The Story of Their Lives
by pieceofcupcakes
Summary: The boys are two years younger than the girls. The four of them has been best friends since they were kids. Join them as they explore their friendship (and feelings) for each other as they grow up. A Fabrevans AU with Finchel mentioned (quite a lot).
1. The Young Love

The first time he saw the blonde girl was on his first day at his new school, William McKinley Elementary School. He was from Nashville, Tennessee and his family just moved to Lima, Ohio. He didn't really like the thought of moving to a new school, especially since he's been making friends for the last two years. Now, he just needed to make new friends allover again. And he hated it.

His mother was taking him to the school with the car, which was really unnecessary since it was only a 10 minutes drive, they could only walk, but Mary was still a little insecure in the new town. When they arrived at school, he was trying his best to stall the time. He really didn't want to go to his new school. He just wanted to go back to Nashville.

He pretended not to hear his mom, calling for him, and just turned his attention to the window. And that was when he saw her.

In front of the school gate, there were lots of first graders. They were small and tiny (at eight years old, he thought he was a big kid already). Most of them were crying; they didn't want their parents to leave them. But this one blonde girl stole his attention.

She was a skinny and small girl with beautiful blonde hair, hazel eyes, and a pout decorating her face. She wasn't crying like the other first graders, but she was holding her mother's hand tightly, didn't really want to go to school too. Her mother appeared to persuade her to go inside, but the blonde girl just shook her head. He was sure that she was holding back some tears.

He then saw another tiny girl, this time a brunette. The brunette girl was crying but she went to the blonde girl and took her hand. Both girls' mother then encouraged the two to go in and they did go in.

"Sam, honey?" His mother placed a hand on his shoulder, making him turn. "What are you looking at? Are you ready to go in?"

He turned again to look at the blonde girl, but she already disappeared together with the brunette girl. He shook his head at his mother. "Nothing," he mumbled.

"Samuel? I know you hate this, but I'm sure you're going to make lots of new friends."

"Fine," he grumbled but then get off the car.

* * *

He met a new friend in his new class. They sat next to each other and they boy instantly introduced himself by the name of Finn, he was tall and a little bit big for a boy at his age.

"So, where do you live?" Finn asked when they walked towards the front gate.

"Couple of blocks away. That direction," Sam pointed.

"Cool! My house is that way too! Wanna walk home together?"

"Well, I want to, but I… um, my mom will picked me up with her car in a while."

Finn's eyed widened, "You ride a car? It's not that far!"

"I know… but my mom insisted. We just moved here."

"Finn!" Someone suddenly called out, making Finn turn at the direction of the girly voice and waved. "Hey!"

Sam turned and blinked when he recognized the two first graders' girls from this morning. The blonde girl was still pouting (and Sam just had to wonder if that was just the way her expression set), while the brunette girl was running towards Finn.

"Hey, you two! Why are you two here already? My mom said that I supposed to pick you two up—uff!" Finn huffed when the brunette girl crashed onto him.

"Rachel was so noisy and said that she wanted to see you," the blonde girl said, "I told her that we should wait at class but she insisted to find you here."

The brunette girl, who named Rachel, pouted, "I'm not noisy."

Sam cleared his throat, managing to get Finn's attention. "Oh, sorry Sam. This is Rachel and Quinn. They're my neighbors. Well, Rachel is my neighbor and Quinn lives a few blocks away, but they love to play in the park together and since I'm the oldest among them, I ended up babysitting this two—OW!" Finn screamed in pain when Quinn stepped on his feet.

"You got into trouble more than I do," Quinn scoffed.

"Well," Sam hesitated, "Hello, girls! I'm Sam Evans, but you can call me Sam. Nice to meet you."

"Hi, Sam. I'm Rachel!" Rachel beamed at him, while Quinn stared at him from head to toe before finally said –or mumbled, a faint hello.

That day, Sam decided that Quinn was not a very nice girl.

* * *

"You like reading?"

They were on the park that day. Finn asked him the other day if he wanted to join them on Sunday, and he said yes. Finn and Rachel were playing around somewhere now, and Sam couldn't help but notice Quinn sitting alone on a bench with a book in her hand. Being born in the south, Sam was in his nature to be nice to people, and so he started the conversation with the not-very-nice-girl.

"I like history," Quinn answered, and Sam just realized that the book was actually a history book. A Pearl Harbor book, to be exact.

"I don't remember being taught history in first grade."

"No, they don't. My dad taught me," Quinn rolled her eyes and buried her face in the book again, seemingly wanting to wave Sam off. And Sam would've walked away in any other situation (because being waved off was unpleasantly rude), yet there he was, trying to continue the conversation.

"I-I like reading too!"

A moment. Two. "Yeah?" Quinn finally peeked from behind the book, "Like what?"

Sam's brain turned quickly. "Astronomy," he said, coming up he said, coming up with the only thing he was pretty confident at. He was still learning other things and he was pretty sure sports didn't count as 'studying' in Quinn's opinion. "I can explain about the constellation pretty well," Sam continued by spurting out a short story about Pegasus.

"Oh," Quinn's eyes sparkled and she smiled widely, for the first time since Sam met him, "You're good."

Sam decided that day that although Quinn was not a very nice girl, she surely had a beautiful pair of eyes and a smile that made Sam unconsciously smile along.

* * *

"Quinn? What are you doing here?" Sam blinked at the strange sight of the blonde girl in front of his classroom, and couldn't help but smile nonetheless at meeting her.

"Rachel wanted to pick up Finn because Finn didn't bring his umbrella today," Quinn explained as she pointed at the girl, "I'm just here because my mother told me not to leave her alone."

"Hi, Sam," Rachel waved cheerfully as always, "Where's your umbrella?"

Sam returned the greeting and glanced outside. It was raining quite hard.

"Don't worry about him," Finn showed up from behind him, "He got picked up every day."

"Well, actually not today," Sam scratched his head. "I guess I'll just wait until the rain stops."

"Eh?" Finn raised his eyebrow, "You sure? I don't know where your home is, but do you want to wait in my house or something?"

"I'm sorry Sam," said Rachel apologetically, "I can only share my umbrella with Finn. Or else he would sulk."

"No, I won't!" cut Finn, "I don't care if you want to share your umbrella with Sam," he added, although not without a pout.

"That's okay, Finn. I'm not going to share it with Sam." Rachel patted Finn's back reassuringly. "Um… why don't you two share an umbrella!" said Rachel cheerfully as she thought she just came up with the most brilliant idea ever.

"You mean me and Sam?" asked Quinn. And Sam seemed to be the only one who noticed the slight panic in her face.

"Don't worry, Q." Sam wouldn't want his friend to be wet from sharing the umbrella with him. And besides, he didn't want to make the blonde girl feel uncomfortable. "I'm sure the rain will stop soon."

Finn asked again, but then gave up after seeing that Sam wouldn't budge. The whole time, Rachel was asking Quinn why Sam couldn't come with them, and the whole time, Quinn looked at him as if saying _'I'm annoyed by these questions and it's all your fault'_. Then Sam remembered that although Quinn had a beautiful pair of eyes (and a nice smile, though she wasn't smiling now), she was still the rude girl who wasn't very nice.

The three left him, and his other friends from the class said goodbye too as they went home. Sam helplessly looked at the sky and it seemed to be getting darker with rain clouds instead of clearing up. Great.

His mourning was interrupted by the sound of someone approaching. Running, it seemed. He was surprised when he saw that it was Quinn, wearing a slightly oversized blue raincoat and boots. She was holding up an umbrella with one hand and carried an extra with the other.

"Here," Quinn offered him the extra umbrella.

"Eh?" Sam blinked, "You came back all the way here just to give me an umbrella?"

"It doesn't seem that the rain will stop soon."

"But you came back all the way here just—."

"Yeah, I heard you," Quinn rolled her eyes.

Sam still couldn't grasp the fact that this not-very-nice kid had returned with an umbrella for him. But another thing had caught his interest and Quinn glared when she realized where Sam laid his eyes on. "Shut up and don't tell anyone. My mother won't let me to go out without wearing a raincoat and a pair of boots, but my Princess ones were at my uncle's place, and obviously these are my brother's."

So not only Quinn delivered an umbrella to him, she also willingly (being forced) to wear Superman just to be allowed to do so.

"You can return that anytime. Bye." Quinn turned without warning and started to run away.

"W-Wait!" Sam called out, "I-I haven't thanked you! Can I say thank you? Thank you!"

Quinn laughed as she glanced over her shoulder, "You're quite funny."

Sam decided that day that Quinn was actually a really nice girl. With a really, really nice laugh.

* * *

"What are you doing here?"

"Um," Sam fidgeted under Quinn's stare, "I'm here to pick you up? Rachel is going with Finn somewhere, right?"

"I don't need to be picked up. I just usually went home with Rachel and Finn claimed he was picking us up, and both of them are going together today to visit Rachel's aunt. So why are you here?"

Why does this girl always have to make things hard? "Can't we go home together?" He almost asked '_we're friends, right?' _but he was suddenly afraid if the answer was a cold _'no'_.

"…Don't you usually go home by car?"

_'I told my mother that I want to start walking home with my friends.' _"I told my mother that I'm grown up now. I can start walking home with you guys from now on. I think our houses are at the same direction."

Quinn scoffed, but she finally started to walk.

"I've never seen your mother picked you up," Sam started the conversation.

"I'm a big girl," Quinn frowned, as if that fact shouldn't have escaped Sam, "Besides, my house is just around the corner."

Sam felt slightly disappointed, because he thought he could walk together for a longer time. "Can I play at your house?"

The younger blonde stared at him for the longest time. Measuring him. "Sure," she finally said, "My brother got some games."

They arrived in front of a big house, and Sam admired the warm, welcoming look from the outside as Quinn opened the gate.

"Quinnie~!"

Sam turned at the voice and saw three boys, maybe a few years older than him, running from the other side of the street. He heard Quinn sighed from his side, but soon the boys were picking her up and cooing, "How's little Q doing?"

"Nate! Put me down!" Quinn pushed away the lips who tried to kiss her on the cheek.

"Aww, scowling as always!" The other boys giggled. One noticed Sam and blinked, "Why, hello there! Are you Quinn's friend?"

Panic struck him. This was his worry earlier. He wasn't sure if he said yes Quinn wouldn't frown at him, but saying no would make it look weird... Why would you come over to someone else's home if you aren't—.

"Yes, he's my friend," Quinn scowled as she struggled free, "Nate!"

"Yes, yes, baby," Quinn's brother finally put her down and turned to Sam. "Hello, I'm Nate. What's your name, Quinn's friend?"

_'Quinn's friend,' _Sam had to suppress a large grin from coming up, _'Quinn's friend, Quinn's friend, Quinn's friend—'_

"I'm Sam Evans."

* * *

"Whohoo," Finn teased him, "popular boy, you!"

Sam stared helplessly at the pile of chocolates on his table. He does like chocolates, but this many…? "You want some?" He offered.

"Hell yes!" Finn grinned, grabbed a couple of the biggest chocolate boxes and stuffed it inside his bag.

Sam decided that he would give some to his family. And maybe he can give them to Quinn. Ehm. And Rachel too so that it wouldn't—.

"Why are you smiling suddenly?" Finn poked his side, making Sam realized that he had the stupidest grin on his face. "Weirdo."

When the class was over, Finn told Sam to go ahead to the school's yard and met the girls first (yes, for some reason, Sam joined the habit to pick the two younger girls up), since he had to return a book to his friend in another class. But what welcomed him in the yard wasn't exactly a pleasant scene.

"For you!" Rachel grinned at Quinn. "My mom told me to give out chocolates to the people I like on V—," she frowned trying to remember the name of today, "Velen...something."

Quinn inspected the chocolate, only decorated with a single, messy ribbon. "Mmkay," she said as she took the chocolate. Which, for some reason, made Sam very, very upset.

"Why did you accept it?"

Quinn turned, looking surprised, "Sam?"

"Of course she accepts, Sam!" Rachel beamed at him, but today Sam couldn't smile back. "Q accept a lot of chocolates today!"

Just then Sam saw the packs of chocolates inside a paper bag that Quinn was carrying. "Let me see that," he pulled.

Quinn frowned and pulled back, "Hey! They're mine!"

"Let me—!" Then it all happened quickly. The bag was flung away, the contents were pouring out...into the shallow puddle behind them. Shallow, yes, but the chocolates are ruined. Every chocolate that belonged to Quinn are ruined except for the one she just received from Rachel.

They froze and no one moved until Finn came over running, "Heeey! Huh? What happened?"

"Why did you do that?" Quinn's voice was so small, so hurt, totally the opposite of what Sam expected (yells?). The older blonde turned at her and was attacked with guilt at seeing the tears welling up in her eyes.

"You," he gulped at seeing the usually calm girl breaking down, "you can't eat too much chocolate."

"I only accepted the ones I like."

Something heavy other than guilt weighed down inside him, "Y-you like…?"

"Dark chocolates," Quinn sobbed, "There were so many and you threw them all away."

"I—."

"Why did you do that."

"I'm so sorry, Q—."

Quinn turned around and ran away.

"Wow," Sam could hear Finn whispered to Rachel, "I've never seen Quinn cried before."

Sam almost wanted to ask his father to get him a trophy of "The Worst Friend Ever" for this terrible achievement.

Later that day, Sam spent all his allowance for the week on dark chocolates and went to Quinn's house. Nate opened the door for him, smiling knowingly and reassuringly, and took him to see Quinn who was burying herself under the blanket in her room.

"Um… I'm sorry, Quinn." He fiddled nervously with the boxes of chocolates in his hand. "Here… I… I bought dark chocolates for you. I know that maybe you won't forgive me, and maybe you don't want to be my friend anymore, but… I just want you to enjoy these." Sam put them on the bedside drawer; "I'll just put them here. And… um, don't forget to brush your teeth after."

"As if I don't know that."

Sam looked up in surprise and saw that Quinn had un-buried herself. The younger blonde's eyes were puffed.

"I'm sorry, Quinn," Sam repeated. Quinn flopped down the bed and looked over the chocolates. Dark chocolates indeed. She took one and handed it to Sam, "Here. Because you're still my friend."

Slowly, a smile began to form on Sam's face.

To his delight, it was returned.

* * *

After Quinn ran away and Sam went home too, Finn and Rachel sat on the bench in the yard for a while. The situation had been awkward. Sam felt guilty and while Finn was trying to make Sam feel more guilty ("Stop being so mean!" Rachel said to him), Rachel had been worrying about her best friend.

An opened box of chocolate appeared in front of Rachel. She shot questioning look at Finn, complete with her worried face.

"You like chocolate, right? So, here." Finn brought the chocolate closer. "Now stop worrying. Quinn will be fine. She could find her way home alone."

Shyly, Rachel took the box of chocolate from Finn.

"Is this the one you got from your friend?"

Finn nodded. And suddenly Rachel decided it was a good idea to shove three chocolates at a time into his mouth.

"I'm not gonna let you eat even one of this!"

It didn't take long before Rachel fingers and face covered with chocolate. Finn laughed.

"You look really ugly."

"Shut up!" Rachel kicked Finn's shin. But Finn only laughed harder because it didn't even hurt.

Earlier that day at school, Finn had PE, so his mom packed him a towel to wipe his sweat. He took that dirty towel from his bag and wipe Rachel's face with it.

"Finn~~ come on, tell me. Who gave it to you?" nagged Rachel.

"Sam."

"Sam!?" Rachel's eyes widened. She scratched her nose. "I thought he likes Q."

"Wait, Sam likes Quinn?"

"Yeah! And Q likes him too!"

Finn snorted, "That's just not possible."

"It's true! I know that because Sam always likes to play with Q and Q likes to play with Sam too!"

"Still think that's not possible." The polite Sam and the rude Quinn?

Rachel pouted, "Because Sam gave the chocolate to you?"

"No! Not like that! Sam got it from a girl from our class. He gave it to me because I didn't get any." Finn looked down. He was obviously embarrassed by the fact.

But Rachel only giggled. "Poor Finn," she teased.

"What poor Finn. Doesn't this mean you have to give me one?"

Rachel put down the box of chocolate she'd been holding and shrugged of her petite backpack from her shoulder. Finn watched her trying to fish out something from it.

"Here."

The younger one put a carton of strawberry milk on Finn's lap.

"For me?" asked Finn doubtfully.

Rachel nodded. "Mmhm. Mom wanted to buy chocolate so I can give it to you yesterday. But I told Mom, Finn doesn't like chocolate. He likes strawberry milk. I even grabbed it myself from the rack at the supermarket. Because now I'm tall enough, you know?" said Rachel proudly. "And because yesterday was a chocolate day, I can only give this to you today."

"Thank you, Rach."

Finn showed his gummy smile and patted Rachel's head. The younger brunette smiled so widely and sweetly that her eyes gone and turned into thin strips on her face.

"Ready to go home?" asked Finn.

"Okay!"

Rachel jumped off the bench and offered her hand to Finn. Finn took it and led the younger girl to his home while sucking on his strawberry milk happily.

"Finn, my tummy hurt."

"That's what you get from eating someone else's chocolate!"

* * *

"Wanna join us again in the park today?"

Sam turned, waiting for Finn to catch up to him before he nodded, "Will Quinn be there too?"

"Pfft. I don't know why you like hanging out with her," Finn mocked. "She's nasty. And acts so smart! She looks at me like I'm a bug or something. I mean, she's just a first grader kid!"

Sam pouted, "She's not that bad. She can be nice to you if you're nice to her. Maybe you should stop bullying her friend."

"Maybe she should stop acting like a hero."

"Hey! Don't talk like that!"

Finn narrowed his eyes, "You like her, don't you?"

Silence.

More silence.

More—.

Then Sam exploded with blush, "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"

Finn blinked and laughed at the outburst, "You do like her! Ahahah! You really, really like that skinny, grumpy girl! As in like LIKE. She's not even cute!"

The blonde boy pushed his friend, "As if you don't like that weepy girl!"

Now it was Finn's turn to blush, "A-are you kidding me? Who would like that stupid girl?"

"Well you do!"

"No, I don't! I hate her!"

A sob cut their arguments short. Just then they realized that they've arrived in front of the first grade classroom and actually had a fight right in front of the two younger girls.

"Idiot," Quinn muttered.

"Finn…" Rachel sobbed again, "You hate me?"

"I… No, I… Wait!" Finn stupidly tripped over nothing as he tried to go after the running girl. He cursed a word he might have learned from bad television shows and got onto his feet again. Quinn and Sam were practically left… alone.

Now this is… bad.

"Did you… did you hear us?" Sam asked hesitantly.

"Yeah."

"Everything?"

Quinn shrugged instead of rolling her eyes, and for some reason, this made Sam feel that something's wrong. Not that the situation is right _right._

"Quinn…?" So maybe Sam had to start being a big kid. A bigger kid that doesn't only dare to walk home alone, but also… "Umm… About what Finn said…"

"Do you think I'm skinny and grumpy?"

"I didn't say that!" Sam yelped. To his worry, Quinn wasn't responding. Afraid that the younger blonde might be crying, he leaned down for a closer look. Luckily, Quinn wasn't crying, but she looked upset alright. "Hey, I didn't say that."

"It's okay. I hear all the times that I'm not cute."

"Your brother thinks you're adorable."

"My brother is embarrassing. No one else would think that."

"I do," Sam blurted out reflexively, and gaped when he realized what he had said. Quinn stared at him blankly.

"You're just saying that because you're my friend."

"No!"

"Yeah, yeah, I believe you. It's okay, Sam. I know Finn always talk first and regret later—."

"No, listen to me," Sam held Quinn's hands in his, succeeding in making the girl stopped talking and looked surprised (he even surprised himself with this courage). "What Finn said about… me… I-liking you? It's true. I like you, not just as a friend."

It was the longest period of waiting time in his whole life. His hands were starting to sweat.

"Your hands are sweating."

"Yeah, I can feel it. I won't let you go until you answer."

"Answer what? You didn't ask me any question."

"Oh," Sam blinked dumbly, "Oh."

Quinn sighed long and hard, but if Sam dared to dream (his mother always told him to dream a little bigger), he could almost see pretty pink colors decorating the girl's chubby cheeks.

* * *

"Come on," Sam tugged the edge of his shirt, "Say yes."

Quinn sighed and put her book down, "I've told you we can't."

"Who said so?"

"It just works that way."

"I will study hard and become the person who can change the way it works."

"And why should I say yes?"

"Because it would make me happy."

"How is that relevant to my interest?"

"Because I will make you happy."

Quinn rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, whatever. But only because you wouldn't stop nagging me."

Sam beamed until his dimples are showing and Quinn could say that _shines_ so much that she couldn't avoid the kiss to the cheek she was getting. And the tight hug after.

And maybe, maybe her face went red just a bit.

When dinnertime comes, Quinn's mother called them and Sam straightened his clothes, to which the younger blonde just realized that Sam had been wearing rather nice and neat clothes, not his usual play time clothes.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fabray?," Sam called her parents who were currently preoccupied with their meals, holding onto Quinn's hand all the way, "I want to marry Quinn."

Quinn's brother dropped his cellphone, Quinn's mother hit her toe on the table, and Quinn's father spit out his coffee.

"I'm sorry," Quinn shrugged, "I've told him that kids can't marry each other, but he just wouldn't listen."

* * *

"Where are they?" Quinn sounded a bit annoyed. It was getting late and both Rachel and Finn had yet to return from wherever they ventured around the park.

"Don't worry," Sam patted her head.

"I'm not worried," the girl shrugged his hand away, "I want to go home and continue my book."

"You read too much," Sam nearly pouted. Not enough time with him.

"Are you my mother?"

"No, I'm your future husband, remember?"

"Sadly, yes, I have a good memory."

The older boy grinned, knowing by now when Quinn does mean her words and when she doesn't. "Good if you remember. Because I have something to give to you."

The younger blonde raised her eyebrows at the sight of the small blue box on Sam's hand. Sam knelt in front of her and raised the box towards her, slowly opening it. Inside is a toy ring with a huge blue plastic stone.

"I'm sorry, I will get you a real ring when we grow up. But for now… Quinn Fabray, will you marry me?"

"…You have asked me to marry you and I've said yes so what's with all this?"

"I was stupid and I didn't know that we're supposed to do this when I asked you to marry me."

"Where did you get this information?"

"Movies."

Quinn scoffed, "I'm not wearing that."

"Why?" Sam asked, obviously disappointed.

"Too big. I can't read my books with that."

Sam laughed, "I'll get you a smaller one later. Can you put it on now just to see how it looks like?"

He got no rejection, so Sam took it as permission to put the ring on Quinn's finger. It was a bit big, but he thought that way other kids could see that Quinn is his future bride. "Blue suits you."

Quinn stared at the ring.

Yeah. Blue suits her.

* * *

"Finn," called Rachel.

The two brunettes were lying on their stomach on the ground, their heads supported by their hands on their chins, and most importantly, they were hiding behind the thick bushes.

"How long should we hide here?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"I wanna go home."

"We can't go home. If we go home we have to walk in front Sam and Quinn. And we shouldn't do that. We have to leave them alone."

"Why?"

Rachel's feet were on the air and he kicked it up and down idly.

"I don't know. Sometimes my mom and dad ask me and my sister to leave them alone. Sometimes my sister asks me to leave her and the boy she likes alone." Finn shrugged. "I just think we have to leave them alone."

"But I'm hungry."

Finn fished out a piece of candy that his teacher gave to him for behaving well earlier at school.

"Here. Eat this."

Rachel grinned widely and gave Finn a peck on his cheek.

"Thank you, Finn!"

"Ssh… quiet or they'll find out we're here."

* * *

**Hi, guys! So I have this story ready for a while and since I'm in the middle of writer's block, I'm just going to post this instead of updating my beloved baby 'Answers'. But I'll update it. Soon. Don't worry ;)**

**This is going to be a series of giant one-shots following the journey as Sam, Quinn, Rachel, and Finn grow up together. However, this is a Fabrevans story but Finchel will be featured a lot but majority, it will be about our beloved Ken and Barbie. I'm aware that they way they talk or the topic they discuss or the way they think are not really suitable for their ages as elementary school kids but hey, it's fiction, right? ;)**

**Anyway, read away and leave me some reviews. Tell me, whether you like it or hate it. I'm going to leave it here and I'm going to update this soon. I have the entire story done by the way so I'm going to update this frequently. I'll see you guys again soon :)**


	2. Losing It

Quinn glared at the ball that hit her foot. Then she directed her glare at her friend who was just staring back at her innocently.

"Let's play!"

"Rachel, I said I don't wanna play soccer. I wanna finish this Astronomy book that Sam lent me."

"So boring," Rachel said with a pout as she picked up her ball and practiced by kicking it around the school yard—although, Rachel was more like chasing the ball around the yard than kicking it.

The two little girls were waiting for their older best friends to pick them up, as per usual. Today was a bit late though. They'd been waiting for almost half an hour now.

"Sam!" Rachel waved at Sam excitedly as Quinn looked up from the book she was reading.

Sam came running into the school yard and greeted them. "Hi, girls," he said between his pants, "I'm sorry I'm late."

When Sam took a seat next to Quinn, Rachel was still staring at the school building, expecting to see another boy that she'd been waiting for.

"Why are you late?" Quinn asked, mildly irritated.

"And where's Finn?" Rachel asked the older blonde as she finally tore her gaze off the building.

"Our class is performing on the assembly this weekend, so the whole class is busy preparing for it. And Finn has to stay longer everyday after school to practice the dance he's going to perform this weekend." Sam then turned his attention to Quinn. "But I ran from class so you don't have to wait for too long. I hope you don't get bored." The youngest one didn't answer. "Sorry?" Sam said warily.

"That's okay," Quinn answered with a shrug, trying to look cool about it. She did feel bad to make Sam that worried when she actually wasn't all that bored. "I'm finishing the book from you anyway. Let's just go home now."

Quinn stood up from the steps she was sitting on. Sam trailed behind her immediately, all the while feeling a little bit better because Quinn was enjoying the book he lent for her.

But the two kids stopped walking as they reach the school gate and turned around. Rachel was still standing in the middle of the yard, hugging her petite soccer ball with a pouting lip. She definitely didn't look happy.

"Rachel, let's go," Quinn called the older girl.

"We're not gonna wait for Finn?" Rachel asked dejectedly.

"Finn will come really late," Sam answered. "But don't worry, he told me that I have to make sure that you reach your front door safely." Sam said with a smile. "So today, I'm not only Q's bodyguard, but yours too."

"You're not my bodyguard," Quinn said curtly.

Sam wanted to protest that statement, but there was a more important problem at hand. He had promised to a very worried Finn that he would take Rachel home safely, and he wouldn't be able to do that if he couldn't even convince the younger brunette to go home with him and Quinn.

"Rachel?"

The younger brunette looked up at Sam with her teary eyes.

"Come on. Finn said he would come to your house after he finished his practice. So don't be too sad, okay?" Sam tried to lighten his mood.

But Rachel only sighed forlornly. "Okay." She walked up to her two friends with a lowered head; her eyes never left the ground.

It was the first time she went home from school without Finn. And she didn't like it one bit.

* * *

Rachel ran excitedly around the school, leaving an annoyed Quinn behind her. The older girl had decided earlier that day, that today, instead of waiting to be picked up, they would come and pick Finn and Sam up. Of course, Quinn didn't have any objection to that, but did they really have to run? What happened to just walk calmly?

"Come on, Q, hurry up! I wanna see Finn dancing!" Rachel called as she stood a few meters in front of Quinn.

"Rachel! The school is big. You don't even know where they practice."

"I'll ask Sam."

"Where is Sam?"

Rachel stopped dead on her track and tilted her head. "Ah, I don't know."

"Right," Quinn said once she reached his friend. "Now, let's just sit down and wait for Sam, okay?"

"Mmkay," Rachel answered nonchalantly.

When Sam finally showed up and agreed to take the two girls, Rachel was beyond ecstatic. She was going to see Finn dancing, how cool was that. Right after Sam pointed out an open door down the hall, Rachel cheered and sprinted to that room, making Sam chuckle as Quinn rolled her eyes.

Yet, the moment she reached the room –which was the school auditorium, Rachel frowned. She gave Sam a questioning look.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked once he caught up with Rachel.

"Why is Finn hugging that girl?" Rachel looked confused and sad.

Sam and Quinn took a peek into the auditorium and saw what Rachel witnessed. Finn had his one hand around a girl's waist and his other hand holding her hand, his back facing the three friends watching him from the doorway.

"He's dancing, Rachel," Sam answered.

"But why is he dancing like that?"

"It's Waltz."

"How else do you think he would dance?" Quinn asked in a bored tone.

"Like a boyband," Rachel responded.

Quinn sighed, "You watch too many MTV."

The three friends didn't notice that Finn's teacher who supervised the dance practice was watching them. She was curious to see what were Sam and two little girls doing in here.

"Hello," the young teacher bent down before the kids. "Sam, are they your friend?"

"Yes, Miss," Sam answered with a smile. "This is Rachel, Finn's neighbor. She usually goes home with Finn. And this is Quinn. She is my… umm…" Sam blushed slightly.

"I'm his friend," Quinn said before Sam could say anything that she considered stupid.

"Miss, can I stay here and watch Finn practice?"

"Rachel?" Finn finally noticed Sam and the two girls standing on the doorway. Rachel waved and smiled at him. "What are you doing here? You should go home. Sam, why don't you take Rachel home?"

"I came here before Sam picked me and Q up," Rachel answered for Sam.

"But you shouldn't be here."

"But I wanna watch Finn practice dancing," Rachel replied stubbornly.

"Now, now, kids," Finn's teacher warned them.

"Miss, I really wanna watch Finn practice dancing. Can I?" Rachel tried her best to make her eyes looked bigger and brighter. Her mom usually couldn't say no to her when she looked like that. "Please~~."

"Of course, you can stay." The teacher patted Rachel's head, which Rachel responded by smiling adorably and hugging the teacher.

"But we're practicing until afternoon. Rachel will miss her nap if she stays here until we're finished. And if she misses his nap she will be extra whiny in the evening," Finn tried to give his teacher a reason to ban Rachel from his practice.

"No, I will not."

"Yes, you will."

"I will not! Why Finn don't want me to watch you practice dancing?" Rachel stomped her foot to show that she was annoyed.

Rachel was so annoyed that she wanted to cry. Her lips started to quiver and her eyes were teary.

"Oh, please don't cry, Rachel." Finn's teacher hugged the little girl and rubbed her back. "You can stay and watch Finn practice. But not too long, okay? Because Finn's right, you have to be home early." The teacher pulled back slightly. She wiped the tears that threatened to fall from Rachel's eyes. "And you have to promise you'll be a good girl and stay there quietly, okay? Can you do that?"

Rachel nodded girl head fervently. "I can do that. I can do that, Miss. Promise."

"The teacher has fallen into Rachel's trap," murmured Quinn softly as Sam grinned fondly at Quinn's wit.

"Okay, you kids be nice and sit take a seat while we continue the practice, okay?"

The three kids answered, "Okay, Miss," in unison and took a seat. Quinn sat in the middle of her friends, while Finn watched the whole thing with a worried expression.

"Okay, kids." This time the teacher was talking to Finn and his partner. "Let's continue."

Finn nodded his head. But he swore, if he happened to do a lot of mistakes during the practice, it was all Rachel's fault. Finn wasn't ready for audience, okay!

* * *

She lost it.

She lost the ring.

Quinn was so sure she put it right on her shelves, but it wasn't there. Sure, her room wasn't the cleanest room in the world, because she had many books scattered around, but she was sure she put it away from the mess, right on that shelves.

And now it's gone.

After searching high and low, she ran downstairs and called out, "Mommy, did you clean up my room?"

Her mother turned from the television she was watching, "Yes, I did. You seriously have too many books, baby—."

"Did you see my ring?"

"Ring? What ring?"

"The plastic ring with the blue plastic stone. I put in on my shelves."

Her mother blinked and tried to remember. Impatient, Quinn scowled, "Mommy!"

"Ah... wait… the little blue plastic thingy? On your shelves near the books?"

"Yes!"

"I… I think I stashed it away somewhere…" Her mother covered her mouth as she gasped, "I'm sorry, I thought it was just some junk—."

"Mommy!" Quinn stared in disbelief and annoyance. First her mother roamed around her room and then she threw the ring away. Feeling tears trickled the corner of her eyes, she ran back upstairs and locked the door to her room before she curled behind the door.

Hearing the commotion, Nate peeked out of his room and saw his mother standing outside his sister's room. "What happened?"

"I accidentally lost her ring. It was this blue plastic ring of some sort."

"Oh," Nate gasped, "Oh mom, that was from Sam."

"Oh," Her mother bit her lips. She then knocked softly on the door, "Honey, baby, I'm sorry. I'll look for it, okay?"

Quinn didn't respond. She simply curled herself tighter. She didn't think she would feel this upset, because after all she didn't want to wear the ring and it looked ugly too. But the blue color was kind of pretty (she loved blue) and Sam gave it to her and…

Sam gave it to her.

* * *

The next day was supposed to be their park day. Quinn didn't feel like going out, though, and she had called Rachel to say that she's off the park day today (and told her to tell Sam because she didn't feel like talking to him now). She could hear Santana –Rachel's cousin who often babysit both her and Rachel, cackled evilly in the background, obviously happy that she didn't have to play with the bratty Quinn since they didn't really get along. Quinn was even sure that Santana deliberately laughed close to the phone so that Quinn could hear it.

But Santana's happiness didn't last long. Leave it to the worried Sam and the persistent Rachel to make the three ended up in front of Quinn's house anyway.

In the end, they all went to the park, although two of them weren't too happy about that.

Rachel, who actually missed Finn a lot, insisted that Santana—who for once decided to wear pants instead of a dress today—should play with her the way she usually play with Finn. And although Santana was ranting about how she didn't want to be a substitute for the monkey boy, she still did what Rachel asked her to do. Because honestly, Santana just couldn't stand the sad look on her cousin's face.

Irked because she was forced to come to the park, Quinn took the opportunity to let it out and said that Santana was no different than every other people who fell for Rachel's sad puppy eyes. And once again Rachel and Sam had to tear the fighting girls apart.

Rachel took Santana to her favorite swing, while Sam stayed with Quinn who instantly pretended to bury herself in the book.

"What's wrong, Q?" Sam asked worriedly after some time, "You've been really silent."

"I'm always silent," Quinn answered.

"Yeah, but you're really, really silent today. Are you sick? Is that why you refused to go to the park earlier?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really! Stop asking!"

Sam raised his hands defensively, "I'm sorry… I was just worried."

Quinn looked at him and felt her guilt doubled. She just snapped at the person whose gift she had lost.

"Q? Sorry?"

"No… No, it's not…" Quinn shook her head and sighed. She had to tell him. "I-I have to tell you something."

Sam looked at her expectantly, making Quinn fidgeted. "I… I lost the ring."

Silence stretched between them as the expectant look on Sam's face slowly turned sad.

"It's a long story… I mean… Well, it was just a temporary ring anyway, right? I mean, you will give me another one later anyway when we grow up, the real ring, so…"

The boy didn't answer.

"Hey… you'll get me another one, right?" Quinn asked weakly.

Sam looked at her and forced out a smile. "Yeah."

The younger blonde couldn't find any words to say. Sam also didn't say a word until Rachel and Santana returned some time later. Always the sensitive little kid, Rachel instantly noticed something was amiss.

"Hey… what's wrong?"

Quinn glanced at Sam, who just shook his head as she let out another forced smile, "Nothing."

"Are you sure? You two look weird."

Sam said he was sure. Quinn wondered if the boy is mad, but he didn't look mad. Yet he didn't offer to take Quinn home and said a short goodbye before walking off to the direction of his own house. Rachel asked again if there was something wrong, but Quinn didn't answer. She didn't even retort to Santana's mockery about her fat cheeks preventing her to speak ("Meh, boring," Santana said when she got no response, but the older girl stopped picking up a fight).

Quinn said her own goodbye, walked home alone, and curled herself on the bed.

* * *

By the fourth day of practice, Rachel had been a regular observer for the practice sessions. She also had moved from her seat to Finn's teacher's lap to watch Finn practice. Quinn thought the teacher had fallen so deep into Rachel's trap that she would do anything the brunette girl wanted.

Well, at least that was what she thought until the next thing happened.

The teacher gave Finn and his partner a break in which was used by Finn's partner to sit for a while and get a drink. But Finn was still dancing and memorizing his steps by himself. So Rachel came up to him and offered to help him practice.

"But you don't know the steps," Finn said.

"Of course I know. I watch you everyday," Rachel answered. And without waiting for any more objections from Finn, she took Finn's hand and placed it on his back. Her own hand was on Finn's arm. Rachel linked the fingers on their other hand.

"Like this, right?" she asked, looking for Finn's approval. Somehow the idea of dancing with Rachel made Finn extra anxious.

"Well... Yes," Finn answered half-heartedly.

"Okay! Let's dance."

Finn thought, that moment, Rachel looked the happiest all through the week.

They danced without music, only with counted steps. But never once they stepped on each other's feet.

"Oh! Rachel! You dance really well," Finn's teacher said excitedly.

"Really?!" Rachel beamed. "Can I dance with him then? Tomorrow at the assembly?"

"No, we can't do that," the teacher answered apologetically.

"Why not?"

"You're not a third grader yet. Only the third grade's students can perform at the assembly."

"That's easy, Miss. I'll tell my mom that I want to go to the third grade starting tomorrow," Rachel said with a shrug.

"No, it's not that easy, Rachel." Rachel pouted at the response. "Sorry, dear."

"And besides, you're not tall enough. It's a couple dance. I can only dance with a girl that is as tall as me." This time Finn was the one who denied her.

Rachel stared at Finn. She knew Finn was right. With the help of her cousin, Rachel looked up videos and pictures of people doing Waltz on the internet. And all of the couples were a man and a woman, or a boy and a girl, with the almost same height. She wasn't a tall girl and therefore couldn't do the couple dance with Finn. And there was nothing she could do about it either.

With a sigh, Rachel let go of Finn's hold on her. She walked up to where she left her bag and put it on.

"Quinn, let's go home," Rachel said softly, head lowered and she didn't even say goodbye to Finn.

Finn shared a look with Quinn who stared at her with a hint of scolding.

"Rachel! I'll come to your house after this, okay?!" Finn tried to call to Rachel's back. But for whatever reason, Rachel didn't respond to it.

"Quinn… What's with her?"

"Seriously, Finn," Quinn rolled her eyes at him, "You don't know what upsets her? Grow up a little, will you?"

"Shut up, Q!" It was enough that he felt a tug of guilt at seeing Rachel like that. He didn't want to deal with Quinn's mocking words right now. "Well, at least I didn't lose a ring!" He snapped.

Quinn froze at that, to which Finn widened his eyes. Oh. _Oh. _Did he just make Quinn Fabray froze? _Oh. Oh. _He just got an idea.

"Yeah, Sam called me and told me how upset he was. Maybe that's why he decided to take on the dance too."

Quinn frowned, "What did you say?"

"Oh? You don't know yet? A boy who supposed to dance in my class fell sick, and Sam offered to replace him," Finn whistled, "I thought he refused to dance back then because he didn't want to make you mad… but I guess now that you've lost the ring…"

"He said it was okay. He said he would get me a new ring."

"Well, I don't know. He didn't pick you up yesterday and today, right?"

"He said he had something to do at schoo—," Quinn fell silent.

"Exactly."

The younger blonde looked down and Finn widened his eyes. Wow. Would he be able to make Quinn cry? Is Quinn crying? WOW—oh. No. She didn't cry. Too bad. But Quinn still looked so upset and that was still a definite win for Finn. He grinned.

As Quinn bit her bottom lip and began to run after Rachel, Finn walked away with a victorious expression and the feeling that he was the smartest person in the whole world.

* * *

The next day, Sam still didn't pick her (them) up. He still said that he had something to do at school and Quinn didn't ask.

So Sam decided to dance. Well, that was up to him. Quinn never said that Sam couldn't dance with another girl. If she forbade him now, would he step down from the dance? But Sam was already the backup dancer and the time is running short, so… he probably wouldn't. Quinn watched as Rachel practiced dancing again and quickly shook her head. No, Quinn couldn't, wouldn't offer herself to dance with Sam! Even the idea alone made her skin crawl with horror.

In the end, she excused herself from Rachel and Santana (who had obviously taken the role of picking them up, not that Quinn needed to be picked up by her) and found her way to the older boys' class. She just turned the corner when she saw Sam and a girl laughing right outside the classroom. Suddenly, Quinn felt very, very upset.

"Is that your dance partner?" Quinn asked right after the girl went inside the classroom, leaving Sam alone. The older boy turned in surprise, not expecting to see Quinn there.

"Q! What are you doing here?"

"Is that your dance partner?" Quinn repeated the question.

"Dance partner?"

Right then, Finn peeked from behind the door, "Sam? You're still here? I thought you were leaving for the teacher's—."

"It was because I lost the ring, right!?" Quinn sobbed, shocking everyone, "You're mad at me because I lost the ring!"

Finn mouthed 'uh-oh', but none of the two blondes noticed.

"I-I wasn't mad at you!" Sam rushed to hug the younger girl, but Quinn batted his hands away.

"And then you decide to dance with that girl!" The girl uncharacteristically wailed, thoroughly upset. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she didn't make any move to wipe them away.

"No! No, listen to me!" Sam held Quinn's hands, "I'm not dancing with anyone! I swear!"

"Liar! You stayed late at school! I know your friend is sick and you have to replace him, but—."

"No, you're wrong! The one who fell sick was a boy who was supposed to give a speech for the opening ceremony! The teacher asked me to take his place and I couldn't refuse…"

Quinn fell silent. Her sobs still escaped, but it was out of her control.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you what I was doing. I thought you wouldn't be interested," Sam's hold on her hands tightened, "Of course I wouldn't dance with another girl. I wouldn't want to make you upset… Seriously, Q, who told you this?"

Quinn groaned. She should've known! Stupid, smelly, immature monkey—"Finn."

Sam widened his eyes and yelled, "FINN!" The guilty boy, who was peeking from behind the door all the time, 'eep'-ed and attempted to escape inside the classroom. Sam was quicker and pulled the boy by his collar. "What did you say to Quinn!?"

"I'm sorryyyyyyyy!" Finn winced, "I never thought she would take it that seriously! I was just annoyed because she kept on scolding me because of Rachel!"

"My Quinnie is crying because of you!" Sam glared hard.

Finn glanced at the tears streaming down Quinn's face. He remembered that he had wanted to make Quinn cry that day, but now he only felt guilty. No matter how much Quinn mocked him and being simply rude to him, she was still just a first grader kid. And she was still his friend. Added with Sam's (super) scary face now, he kind of regretted what he said back then.

"I-I'm sorry, okay…" Finn looked down.

Sam glared at him one last time before releasing him. The boy then turned and took Quinn's hand before they walked away from the scene.

"You're mean, Finn."

Finn turned and saw that Rachel was standing behind him.

"Since when are you here?"

"I was worried because Q looked upset, so I followed her here. Santana said she suddenly had something to do, so I followed Q alone… quietly, because she was also kinda scary when she's upset," the girl explained. "Sam looked mad at you."

"Yeah," Finn scratched his head, still shocked over his friend's wrath to wonder who this Santana is. "He's scary when he's mad."

"It's okay, Finn," Rachel patted him on the back, "You apologized, and you're their friend, so they will forgive you."

"I know."

"I forgive you too."

Finn raised his eyebrows, "But I didn't do anything wrong to you."

"Because I'm your friend too, silly." Rachel smiled. "You made poor Q cry and Sam mad. They're my friend!"

Finn rolled his eyes, "Shut up."

* * *

"I will kill Finn for this," Quinn sniffed.

"Don't," Sam chuckled as he wiped Quinn's tears with a handkerchief, "Rachel wouldn't stop crying then."

Quinn rolled her eyes. Now she felt embarrassed for being tricked so easily. Sam also witnessed her bawled like a baby, like Rachel always did. She felt really, really stupid now.

"How could you just believe Finn like that?" Sam asked.

The girl shrugged, "I thought you were mad because of the ring."

"I wasn't!"

"But you didn't talk to me after I told you that I've lost it. You also didn't walk me home… not that I need you to walk me home, but you always…" She trailed off.

"I swear I wasn't mad at you, Q," Sam quickly explained, "I was just a bit shocked and worried. If there's no ring, you couldn't marry me. So I hurried back…" he took Quinn's hand in his, pulled a ring from his pocket and put it on Quinn's finger, "…to the shop that sells the ring."

Quinn's eyes widened.

"Luckily they still have one last ring," Sam smiled, "Now you can still marry me."

The younger blonde's lips trembled, but she tried not to cry. She had just cried for a stupid lie Finn made, she wouldn't cry twice in a day, especially not in front of Sam. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for losing the ring. I usually don't lose things, but…"

"It's okay," Sam ruffled her hair, "I'm the husband, so I have the responsibility to make you happy anyway. Now smile for me? I hate seeing you cry."

It was a quick, embarrassed smile, but that was enough for Sam.

After that tiring afternoon, Sam walked Quinn home, all the way refusing to let go of her hand no matter how much the younger blonde scowled (the fact that her puffed eyes made her less menacing helped). The ring was safe around Quinn's finger and surrounded by Sam's slightly bigger hand.

When they arrived, Quinn looked as if she wanted to ask something, but she was hesitant about it. Smiling, knowing exactly what Quinn wanted, Sam asked in Quinn's place, "Can I play for a while?"

Quinn flushed a bit and nodded.

As soon as they stepped in, Quinn's mother welcomed them, "Ah! You're home, baby! Perfect, Sam, you're here too!" She beamed and took Quinn's palm in her own, "Here, I finally found it."

The plastic ring with the blue plastic stone. Quinn's eyes widened.

"I swear it's not dirty, not from the trash can—oh. Aww, you already have a new ring!" Quinn's mother chuckled, "From you, Sam?"

Sam smiled and nodded.

"So… you won't need this anymore?" She made a move to pick the ring, but Quinn stopped her with a pout, making her laughed.

After that, she left them alone as they settled inside Quinn's room. The younger blonde stared at the ring surrounding her finger and the one on her palm.

"You have two now," Sam poked her on the cheek.

"Well," Quinn looked at him, "I have an idea." She took Sam's hand and put the ring on his finger. "Now we both have one."

Sam gaped, then grinned so wide that Quinn rolled her eyes. "You know, Q, this feels like a wedding ceremony."

The younger blonde's cheeks reddened, but she looked away to cover her embarrassment, "I'm not saying any vows."

"We'll save that for later," Sam laughed as he quickly stole a kiss on the girl's cheek.

"And I still won't wear the ring every day."

"Whyyyyy?"

"No one would wear this kind of ring every day!"

"I would."

"If you do, I won't say the vow later."

Sam pouted, "…Fine."

* * *

**Hey guys. First, I want to point out that this story is obviously AU. In my mind, Finn is a great dancer -but only in this story, so please bear with it ;) Also, for the maturity of language use and also their conversation topics, well it's fiction. So... ;) And also, this is a Fabrevans AU. But in some point of the future chapters, you'll get to see what happened with Finchel relationship too. Please anticipate that.**

**I would like to thank everyone who read this story and also follow/favorite this story. Thank you for those who reviewing too. It means a lot to me. I'm glad that you're enjoying the previous chapter and I hope you'll enjoy this one too. Leave me some reviews on this one too. Let me know, whether you like it or hate it. I'll see you guys soon with the next chapter. There'll be a HUGE time jump between this and the next chapter ;) See ya!**


	3. Innocence

**Huge time jump. They're in high school now ;) Read away!**

* * *

Quinn rubbed her eyes, groaning a little when Sam took a seat on the chair next to her. "Tired?" The older blonde asked, a bit surprised. They had only been studying in the library for five minutes. Well, Quinn studied and Sam mostly just stared at the girl.

"Hmm," Quinn answered. "I think my eyes are tired… The texts are somewhat blurry."

"You were fine in the class before?" Sam furrowed his eyebrows, even further when realization appeared on Quinn's face. "Well… now that I think about it…"

Sam stood up right away, "We're going to the optical store now."

"What?" Quinn blinked, "You think my eyes are going bad? Aren't you overreacting? Maybe my eyes were too tired. I did read that new book until nearly morning…"

"What did I say about you and your terrible reading habits…" Sam frowned, displeased, but he didn't say anything more on the reading subject when Quinn glared at him. The young blonde never liked getting scolded or being fussed over. "I don't care. We're going."

* * *

It turned out that Quinn's eyes _did _get worse.

Quinn wanted to wear simple black-framed eyeglasses, but Sam persisted and won out with the red-rimmed one. When Quinn tried the glasses out, she soon saw her surroundings with unmatched clarity (how bad were her eyes, really, and she didn't even realize it until now). She smiled, turning around to see Sam… and was surprised at the strange look Sam was giving him.

"What?"

"Nothing," Sam coughed, but his pitch was a little off. Quinn shrugged and paid for the glasses. She raised her eyebrows as the older blonde stared at her their whole walk back home, but it wasn't until they were in front of Quinn's house that Sam's hands crept up her cheek, turning her to face the older blonde.

"Q…"

"What is it? You've been acting strange…" she shivered at the odd feeling of Sam stroking the sides of her face.

"You…" something in Sam's expression scared her a bit, "You look beautiful with glasses I mean, you always look beautiful, but…"

"Hmm. Do you want to go in first or—," her words were cut off when Sam suddenly covered her lips with his own. Quinn's eyes widened and she reflexively shoved Sam away. "What do you think you're doing!?"

Sam gaped and swallowed before he stuttered, "I-I'm sorry, it's just…"

The younger blonde felt her lips trembled and she touched it with the tips of her fingers. "What the… What the heck—You…"

"Q…" Sam pleaded for both forgiveness and a chance to explain, but Quinn swatted his reaching hand away before she ran inside her house. Sam didn't run after her, but he did try to call and message her later that night. She never answered.

* * *

So despite everyone's popular belief, Sam had yet to kiss Quinn for real. Yes, he had kissed her a lot on the forehead and the cheeks, much to Quinn's annoyance (and secretly mixed with a little skip of a beat in her heart), but never on the lips.

For the whole week, she wondered why a kiss on the lips felt so different than on other parts of the face. For the whole week, Quinn dreamed of Sam's lips on hers and cursed Sam for causing this. For the whole week, she wondered what Sam was doing, because she was avoiding the boy (successfully, partly because Sam didn't actually dare to face her rejection). But then she remembered what Sam had caused (the cursed dreams) and decided that maybe she should wait until the dreams were gone before she forgives the older blonde.

* * *

"Hey, bitch."

Quinn hummed only to show her recognition to Santana who had just entered her room. The older girl had called her earlier, saying that she wanted to borrow a certain book. They were reading buddies alright.

"As rude as usual, huh," Santana scolded when Quinn didn't turn away from her book, but she was too used to Quinn's nonchalant attitude to actually be offended. "…Or are you using that book to distract yourself from your fight with Sam?"

The young girl's hands slipped, causing some pages of the book flipped away. Santana cackled, "It's true then? Is that why he was standing miserably in front of your door?"

Quinn's eyes widened and wavered to the door, "W-what? He…"

"Then I came and asked what the heck was he doing, but he just shook his head and left—Oh wait, you're not gonna pour your heart out to me, right? Because I think I should set up a rate first—maybe even a small office—before taking on a job of fixing up relationships. Maybe I should leave you alone." Santana stood up and walked back to the door, but then she stopped. "On second thought, just tell me."

Quinn frowned. "Why?"

"This can become a good blackmail material."

"As if I would tell you after you say that."

"Oh you will. Because you need help from someone."

Quinn was just about to say that, no, she didn't, but the words never left her mouth. Santana smirked and slumped on the younger girl's bed. "I'm waiting."

There was a long silence after that, then Santana coughed not so secretly before Quinn finally spilled it. "Sam kissed me."

Another set of long silence followed suit. "So?"

Quinn frowned, "Sam _kissed _me."

"Oh," Santana's lips formed into an 'O'. "Please, for the love of the Devil, don't you dare tell me that he hadn't kissed you before."

Quinn scowled and threw a random book at the slowly cackling older girl.

"Okay…" Santana laughed for some more time, "Wow. Sam actually… wow. He had survived this long without… I even thought he had kissed you since the moment you entered the second grade, him being so pushy towards you… Wow. Pfft. Wow."

"Fine. You're not helping. What did I expect?"

"Who said I'll help?" Santana smirked again, "Geez, you suck in real world. I bet you see everyone as a book character."

Quinn retorted automatically. "A book character sometimes a real world too."

"Fake real world, because it's basically a book perspective with real world sprites—I can't believe I'm having this geek talk with you," Santana frowned. "Do not tell a soul."

"Only if you promise not to tell a soul either about this."

"Whatever," Santana shrugged. "Listen, he hadn't kissed you until now even though you've been together for, what, ten years or so? What does that say about him?"

Quinn stared at her with a blank expression.

"That boy has got to be the person with the most self-restraint I've ever met."

"Self-restraint…?"

"Oh God, should I really do this?" The Latina girl groaned. "What I'm about to say is extremely sappy and is not to be acknowledged to be coming out of my mouth. Understood?" After she saw Quinn nodded, she continued, "You're precious to him."

She saw Quinn's face twisted with an unspoken word of 'obviously, we're more than friends', but she cut her off before the younger girl could say anything. "Everyone wants to touch the person he likes, get it? The fact that he didn't even kiss you for real before this either meant that he didn't actually like you or he liked you too much and intended to treasure you until the time is right. It was easy to know which option was true in Sam's case, seeing how he had always been so head over heels towards you."

Quinn bit her lip, eyes wandering to a photo placed unceremoniously by Sam on her desk. It showed her and the boy hand in hand.

"So maybe you're confused with his kiss, because I know you're inexperienced like that, but imagine how Sam must've felt now after you ran away like that. He would think that you hated it… hated him."

"I didn't!" Quinn replied reflexively, "I was just… surprised… and didn't know what to do. I couldn't look at him so I ran. I didn't even hate the kiss…"

Santana smirked and called out, "Now Sam, you can go in!"

Quinn's eyes widened, feeling betrayed. Santana cackled and bounced outside the room (Quinn inwardly sworn a public humiliation soon).

"You sneaky bastard," Quinn scowled when Sam entered the room.

"Sorry," Sam winced, "Santana made me wait outside, I swear."

Quinn then realized she still couldn't look at Sam's face (she couldn't control her blush) so she turned around to stare at the now closed book. Why did she close the book again?

She noticed Sam shifting closer to her and wasn't surprised when the older blonde turned her around as he knelt in front of her. "I'm sorry for surprising you like that," Sam whispered as he caressed Quinn's cheek.

"You should be," were what escaped Quinn's lips instead of the intended words of apology for neglecting the boy for a whole week. "…You made me dream of that kiss every night."

Sam smiled. He understood. "I'm happy." The boy slowly took her glasses off. "And you still look so beautiful in those glasses."

Quinn instinctively fluttered her eyes closed when Sam leaned in. Their second kiss was a long one, slow and gentle and filled with love and compassion. It was as overwhelming and foreign as their first kiss, even more so when Sam parted the younger blonde's lips with his tongue before he explored her mouth. This time, though, Quinn didn't feel like running away. She didn't know how long it lasted, but she was breathless when it was over. Quinn let her guard down then. After all, she couldn't fight the warm blush and a shy smile from spreading on her face. Sam whispered 'I love you' and kissed her again.

* * *

To say that he was bored was an understatement. Finn had been glaring at the arms of the clock to somehow move faster. He couldn't wait for his detention to be over. But then again he should've known better than to watch that EPL game so late at night that he fell asleep during his Biology class.

When the bell finally rang, he was all but running to the front gate, where Rachel would be waiting for him. They'd been walking home together from school since kindergarten. And he knew Rachel would still be waiting for him even though he was a couple of hours late.

But Rachel wasn't there.

Finn fished out his cell phone from his backpack and checked on it. He'd put it on silent mode during the detention and hadn't gotten the chance to look at it. Maybe Rachel sent him a message, letting him know that she already went home with Sam and Quinn. That was the only explanation he could think of.

But instead, the only message that he received was from Santana, Rachel's cousin. Santana didn't go to their high school (she wasn't even a high school student anymore), but her boyfriend, the guy from California, did. So they weren't even shocked anymore whenever they saw her during lunch breaks or sometimes even during Puck's PE class, cheering him on from the bleacher. There was even a rumor that Santana was the one who made Puck transferred to Ohio. Well, anything was possible if you were Santana Lopez, Finn always thought.

So, he checked Santana's message and prepared himself to get scolded. After all, Santana only sent him those kinds of messages.

_Equipment room behind the gym! NOW!_

Finn immediately knew something bad had happened to his best friend. All kinds of ugly thoughts run in his head, one even worse than the other. And he had already blamed himself for making Rachel wait. If it was really as bad as his imagination then Finn knew he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

The sight of Santana kicking three girls who were crouching on the ground while Puck held her back greeted Finn as he reached the front of the equipment room. But he didn't see Rachel.

"Where's she?!" he demanded to anyone who cared to listen to him.

"Inside with Sam and Quinn," the mohawk boy answered as he tried to stop his girlfriend from murdering the other three girls.

When he stepped inside the room, he found Rachel's star-shape headband broke in two pieces on the floor. Sam, Quinn and Rachel were huddled up on one end of the room. Sam had his arm around Rachel's shoulder to keep the shorter brunette standing. The fact that Quinn wasn't even glaring at the close proximity would make Finn laugh if the situation had been different.

"I'm okay, guys."

Finn's eyes finally stopped on Rachel. She had cuts on her lips and cheekbone. Her eyes were red and tears kept falling no matter how many times she wiped it. And despite all that, she was smiling. Weak and forced, but she was smiling.

"Really. I'm okay. Don't worry."

Quinn was the first one to notice Finn's existence in the room. The youngest girl walked up to Finn with her back against the other her boyfriend and her best friend, as if to keep them, or at least one of them, from listening to what she was about to say.

"I don't know how it happened." Her voice was kept low when she was speaking so that only Finn could hear it. "When Sam and I found her, those girls were beating her. We tried to stop them but we were outnumbered. I called Puck and he came with Santana. And well, you know how Santana is."

"They beat her?" was the only thing that stuck in Finn's mind.

"We only saw that. Rachel didn't want to tell us anything. She keeps saying that she's fine. But she couldn't stop crying." Quinn spared a glance to see Sam stroking both of Rachel's arms to calm her down. Although, funnily, Rachel did look calm. Except for the tears.

"Go talk to her. I think she will only talk to you."

Quinn then left him to call Sam. Only after Rachel had convinced Sam that it was really okay that Sam followed Quinn and left, leaving Rachel and Finn alone in that room.

Rachel slid against the wall to sit on the floor. She folded her legs up and wrapped her arms around it. Her forehead rested on her knees and her face was conveniently hidden from the other brunette.

Finn could only quietly walk up to her and sat cross legged in front of Rachel. He didn't say anything when he placed his palm on Rachel's crown.

"Finn, I'm fine."

The fact that Rachel didn't use her usual bubbly voice was a dead giveaway that she wasn't.

"Are you hurting somewhere?" Finn's voice was exceptionally gentle that he surprised even himself.

"No. I'm fine."

Finn eyed the headband on the floor. Rachel's sniffles filled the quiet room.

"Don't worry about your headband. I'll buy you another one, okay?" Finn ruffled Rachel's head softly. And he heard a chuckle in return.

"I'm not worried about it."

Somehow, Finn wished the girl in front of him was still her five years old self. The crybaby who always cried her heart out whenever she wanted. Finn used to get annoyed by that kid. But that kid would tell Finn everything that made her cry instead of telling him that she was okay and basically pushed everyone away. He knew Rachel had grown up. But, like her five years old self, the seventeen years old Finn still hated it when he didn't know what makes his best friend cry.

"You're not still scared." Finn wasn't asking. But Rachel still shook her head in reply. "So you're upset."

"I…" Rachel inhaled deeply. "I am."

"It's about the headband right? Not because they broke it. But because they hate you for wearing it."

Once again Rachel laughed.

"Take your hand off my head." She gripped Finn's hand, moved it from her head, but didn't let it go. "You're reading my mind."

"We can still do mind melding when our fingers are touching, you know."

"It's a whole other thing when our fingers touch. But do you really want to share a Star Trek trivia when your best friend just got bullied." Rachel finally looked up. Lips turned slightly upward. "Seriously, Finn? I thought you're better than that."

"Hey, it's because I know that alien talks makes you happy. See." He prodded Rachel's cheek. "Already smiling."

"Distraction doesn't really work anymore on me, you know."

"Yeah? Then maybe," Finn moved to sit next to Rachel, his back against the wall, "maybe I like it better when you blabber while you're crying, but then, after I showed you my pet fish, you'd be all stupid grin and just be a ball of energy again."

Rachel smiled. "Okay, maybe I'm still easily distracted."

"I've told you, you are."

The younger brunette rubbed her palms against her thighs nervously.

"But, growing up with you and the others," she sighed, "I always knew I'm… _They _said I'm—."

"You're just different," Finn cut her off before she could say something hurtful about herself.

"Yeah, but I thought it was okay. You made me thought it was okay." Rachel's voice was starting to rise up with every single word.

"It _is_ okay, Rach."

"But why did they hate me for it?" Rachel wiped the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. Her face muscles were tired from keeping herself from crying.

"Because those kinds of bastards are always around. But I..."

He wanted to say that he would always protect her. But Finn knew that it was an empty promise. He couldn't always look out for her. In fact, he had just failed to do that.

"I'm sorry I was late."

"No, it's not your fault that this happened."

"Yeah, I know, but still—."

"I'm not upset about what just happened. It's what happened the whole day today."

"Just don't listen to them okay? You have me and the others. Yes, we tease you and everything, and we probably shouldn't, and we're sorry for that, but, you know, we would never hate you. All those other people are just being mean."

Rachel nodded.

"I know," she said softly. "Thanks for everything, I guess."

* * *

"Are you okay?"

Quinn rolled her eyes, "Why are you asking me that? Rachel was the one who just got beaten."

"But one of the bitches punched you," Sam gritted his teeth.

"How many times do I have to say it? He didn't punch me, Sam. She just slapped my glasses away. Those girls are lunatic."

The older blonde was still unconvinced and he checked on Quinn for the umpteenth time. He huffed, stroking the slightly reddened mark on the side of Quinn's temple. "I'm sorry about your glasses."

"What are you sorry about? You're not the one who slapped it away."

"If only I'm stronger—."

"Stop it," Quinn sighed, "If I let you buy me a new pair of glasses, would you stop feeling guilty?"

Sam chuckled and clasped Quinn's hand tightly. "Let's go now."

"There," Sam smiled, "Contact lenses are perfect for you."

"You can't even see the difference," Quinn rolled her eyes. "It's colorless anyway."

"That's what I said, perfect." And now no one would be able to see the endearing nerdy look of Quinn but him (God knew how many more closet Quinn fans would pop up; closeted because Quinn was too scary to actually be romantically approached and Sam could be intimidating when necessary). Though… he should think of some ways to make Quinn wear a pair of glasses sometimes when they were alone. Of course without making Quinn think that he was a freak.

They stepped out of the optical store, heading towards the front lobby to go home when something caught Sam's eyes behind one of the display windows. He tugged Quinn's hand, "Look, Q."

It was a jewelry store. Sam pointed at a displayed line of wedding rings, grinning. "Which one would you like in the future?" Quinn rolled her eyes, but Sam dragged her closer to the display window. "That one with the little diamonds would look good on you… or maybe the simple platinum one? Hmm…"

Quinn watched the way Sam's face contorted in concentration, truly pondering over the options. The older blonde turned to her, "So? Which one?"

She shrugged, but she was smiling, "Surprise me."

Sam beamed, grinning. Quinn tugged his arm, already pulling them towards the front lobby. "Come on, let's go home."

"Hey," Sam wrapped his arm around the younger blonde's waist. "Should I buy the rings now?"

"No, not until you get your own job."

"Can't it be just after we graduate?"

"At least you must have your own house and car. Then you can talk to my parents," Quinn said absentmindedly, distracted by the sight of an impending rain outside the shopping center. She didn't see the way Sam's eyes glinted behind her.

* * *

"I'm still having the dream last night," he muttered more to himself.

Rachel walked listlessly to the bus stop. So even when Rachel said she was fine already, everything clearly still wasn't back to normal. And Finn didn't like it.

"What kind of dream?" he asked.

"Uh…" Rachel was stalling.

"Come on, tell me."

Finn prodded Rachel's ribs to make her talk. But the younger one pouted and shook his head.

"Oh come on. Tell me, tell me, tell me." Finn kept jabbing Rachel with her fingers and tickling Rachel in the process.

"Okay. Okay, I'll tell you," Rachel said from between her giggles. "Santana said I should try it anyway," she said with a defeat sigh.

"Try what?"

Rachel looked up at her best friend, still unsure if she had to do it.

"To… kiss you."

Finn was silent and slightly shocked. All he did was gaping at Rachel. And it worried the younger one.

"So you don't take it well, I see," she grumbled.

"What? You want to kiss me? That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it? Kissing is a big deal in a teenager's life, Finn."

"Well, yes maybe, if you haven't been kissing me since we're both babies."

"But it's different!"

"How is it any different?"

"Now I want to kiss you like this!"

Rachel clenched the front of Finn's shirt and pulled the taller teen closer to her until their lips met. The usual innocent kisses Rachel used to give Finn were just soft pecks that never linger. But this time she angled her head to fit Finn's. She moved her lips, trying to get a reaction from the other brunette.

It was shocking, although not unwelcomed by Finn. And after the surprise washed away, Finn put his arm around Rachel's waist, startling the younger girl. When Rachel gasped, Finn slipped his tongue into Rachel's mouth and tasted her.

Rachel's face was crimson red when they broke the kiss. She was looking anywhere but Finn's eyes.

"You're really making a big deal out of it," Finn said, his arm still around Rachel's waist.

"I didn't know that you'll be okay with it."

"I'm always okay with your kisses."

"But that was like a lover kiss." Rachel's face getting even more flushed. She shyly peered to look at Finn. "Does that mean we're together now?" she asked softly.

"When are we not together?"

"Hey!" Rachel slapped Finn's arm. "I'm serious! I know we're always together. But as _best friends_. Now are we still like that or, you know, more." Then she mumbled. "Because if we're still on friends, I think I'm going to be really s—."

This time Finn was the one who pulled Rachel against him and crushed their lips together.

"If I knew it would shut you up, I would've kissed you a long time before," he whispered into Rachel's ear.

Much to their luck, a honking car ruined their mood and at the same time brought them back to the realization that they were at a—thankfully—empty bus stop on their way to school. They stared at the white Audi that was pulled over in front of them.

"Guys, get in. You're gonna be late," Sam's voice drifted from the rolled down window. Finn and Rachel could see Sam and Quinn inside the car. Sam was on the driver's seat while Quinn sat, looking annoyed, on the passenger seat next to him.

"Wha—What are you doing here?" Finn stuttered. It was as if the two blondes and the car—_especially the car_—popped out of thin air. "Your houses are on the opposite way!"

"Just get in already!" Quinn snapped.

At Quinn's wrath, Rachel decided to push Finn into the car. She didn't want to deal with her best friend's bad mood so early in the morning.

"I don't want to be seen inside this flashy car," the youngest girl murmured with a feisty tone. When she said to Sam to have a house and a car first, she didn't think that the older blonde would actually _buy _the car _right away_ ("Now we're one step closer to the rings," Sam had said earlier before continued to say that he would buy the house for them to live together in the college later; Quinn persisted that at least he should buy the house with his own money, just to avoid further… absurdity). On top of that, it was a fricking _Audi_.

"Q." Sam pouted, obviously thought that Quinn should be getting used to be seen in his white Audi and about to spill out his arguments on the subject. After all, he would be picking Quinn everyday to the school and to their dates with this car, with or without Quinn's approval. If he was lucky, Quinn would actually understand.

"I thought we're late," Finn said from the cramped backseat.

"We are," Quinn said with a glare at Sam.

"Okay, okay," the taller boy answered halfheartedly, swallowing whatever he had to say and changed the gear to drive.

And another day of colorful high school life began.

* * *

**Hey guys! Once again, thank you for those who reads and for the overwhelming responds. It means a lot. Dearest noro, Overgron, RJRRAA, B2stB2uty, and Vale15, thank you for the reviews :) As I said before, this is a Fabrevans story but you've got some Finchel there, right? ;)**

**Nicole**: Hey gurl! Thank YOU big time. I'm glad you loving it. Fetus Fabrevans (I love it that you used 'fetus') will always be adorable. I hope you don't mind with this huge time jump. As for 'Answers', I have a good news for you cause... I'm currently working on the next chapter! It should be up anytime soon. I don't really want to leave all of you hanging for too long, especially since the revelation is just around the corner. Hint: the next chapter will have the events that will lead up to the revelation ;) Be patient! It will come to you REAL SOON ^^ Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this one too :)

**Per usual, leave me some reviews. Tell me, whether you like it or hate it. If you have any questions, leave it there too. I'll answer everything. And I'll see you with the next chapter real soon. Hopefully, I'll update 'Answers' at the same time too ;) See ya!**


	4. Prom Night - Part 1

**Happy #glee100 day! :)**

* * *

The problem started when the first poster of the confirmed prom night was posted on their school's bulletin board. Finn had been walking with Sam and he suddenly felt a shiver ran through his body. True enough, Sam had this glint in his eyes before he asked the taller boy, "You're gonna help me, right?"

You see, for Sam there was no such word as 'exaggerating' when it comes to Quinn, his lover since forever, especially with special things like prom night. Being Sam's buddy for the longest time, of course Finn was stuck with helping the whole planning and preparation to ask Quinn out for the prom night (while Rachel was left out of the picture because the girl couldn't keep her mouth shut). Yes, because for Sam it couldn't be just 'would you be my prom date' with a flower in one hand.

"What? Aren't you going to do anything special to ask Rachel out for the prom?" Sam asked when Finn had told him just that. "You're just going to ask her with a flower in one hand?"

"What… I'm not even going to ask her like that," Finn rolled his eyes. "It's only natural that we go together."

"But it's an important event. It's prom night."

"Rach would've drag me to the prom anyway even if I don't ask her. Don't you see how excited she was when she first saw the poster?"

"Sometimes I pity Rachel," Sam sighed and returned to the computer, looking for more information on how to invite Quinn the best. "You're too indifferent."

'_And sometimes I pity Quinn,' _Finn thought, only to himself because he just wanted the preparation to be over with, _'You're too over the top.' _

"What do you think about this?" Sam finished scribbling on his notepad and showed it to his friend.

Finn got up lazily from his place on Sam's bed and checked the plan. He widened his eyes. "Just… please don't tell Quinn I help you in this."

* * *

'_What the hell,'_ was what Quinn thought when she arrived in front of the school's front gate. She was alone that day. Sam said he had something to do in the morning while Rachel and Finn had taken off first.

The other students looked as dumbfounded as her. Who wouldn't really, when there was a fricking trail of rose petals starting from the front gate heading inside the school. And by trail of rose petals, it meant beds of roses all the way. Quinn stood still for a moment, wondering if it was even safe to step on them. In the end, she walked around it, just stepping on them when it was practically impossible not to as the whole school lobby was taken over by the roses.

She wondered if this was related to the prom night. But the school wouldn't do such thing and neither would the student council (the new president of the student council was as straight as an arrow and as boring as hell). _'Could this be someone's idea of inviting his prom date?'_ she thought as she walked down the hallway (again, no one could do anything but step on them if they want to go through the hallway; the roses are covering every step of the way). _'That would be so stupid. Poor girl. I might as well save her the trouble and call the police if that's the case… this boy is seriously littering in public place.' _

Quinn stopped dead on her tracks when she saw the roses trailed inside _her_ first class of the day. The history room. The opposite path was clear. Now that he noticed, the trail from the school lobby earlier trailed left into that particular hallway and the opposite direction was also free from roses...

What was she hearing?

Was that… was that a string version of her favorite Jason Mraz' song, Lucky…? From inside her class…?

Now she also noticed the other students stared _at her_. The face of someone with a particular flair for attention suddenly appeared in her mind and she felt like breaking said someone's neck, though she still hoped that…

All hope faded into dust when she stepped in and saw _Sam_ beaming at _her_ from _her_ desk. Behind him was a group of men wearing suits and playing that song with violins and cellos, while the boy himself held a bouquet of red roses and a huge white cardboard with the text WOULD YOU BE MY PR—.

Quinn turned around before she could finish reading (of course she already knew what was written there), intending to just skip the day (or perhaps transfer into another school) and curse Sam forever from behind the locked door of her room and maybe send him a computer virus to wipe out everything just because—but more violinists appeared and blocked her way out.

"Quinn~," Sam's sing-a-song voice had never been so _annoying_. Quinn turned around dangerously and stomped her way to the older boy. "Give me a fucking reason not to call the police and have you jailed for public humiliation and littering in public and simply being pesky," she snapped, nearly yelled.

"Because I'm doing all this for you," Sam smiled, not at all intimidated by the vicious glare.

The spectators, consisted of both her classmates and random curious students, snickered. Quinn could only glare at so many people. At least she managed to make Rachel shut up. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?" She turned to Sam again. "What would the teachers—."

"I've asked them for permission," Sam explained smugly. "They wished me luck."

Quinn gaped. She knew that Sam had become the teachers' favorite for a long time, moreover when he became the president of the student council in the previous period, but to this extent? In the background, the strings continued to play and she snapped at them. "Quit it!"

Sam chuckled, "They won't stop until you say yes."

"You wish. If you expect me to actually feel flattered over this—."

The strings got louder.

"I've told you, Quinn, they wouldn't—." His words were cut off when Quinn grabbed the bouquet and shoved it right into his face.

"Go to hell!" Quinn screamed, her face red and thoroughly looking humiliated.

The violinists played louder and faster and Quinn hoped that Starcraft was real. That she actually had an army of Zerg (because they look nasty... and kill nastily) to wipe out everyone in this classroom, especially the one who was currently rubbing his pouting face (roses aren't lethal but they still hurt when shoved into the face). "Quinn..."

"Alright, fine! Now get them out of this place and I want the whole stupid roses cleaned up before the class started!"

Sam grinned and kissed her lips in front of everyone, before Quinn kicked him on the shin and ran out, hiding in the bathroom until the bell rang to sign the class is starting. By the time she returned to the class, the roses were gone except for the bouquet on top of her desk, but the damage was done. Every girl was giggling and every boy was snickering.

"I have a really embarrassing boyfriend," Quinn said with a huff. She sat on her desk next to Rachel who was grinning from ear to ear. "What? Stop staring at me like that."

The older girl chuckled. "You said it's embarrassing but, honestly, it's really hard for you to stop smiling right, Quinn," Rachel teased as she pinched Quinn's cheek repeatedly.

Quinn swatted Rachel's hand away. The corner of her lips twitched, but she bit it hard to prevent a smile. It was getting harder though as happiness bubbled ridiculously in her chest. "You're being delusional."

"Whatever you say, Quinn," Rachel laughed again. "If you hate it so much, you wouldn't still be with him."

The younger girl glared hard at her older friend but didn't say anything because Rachel obviously knew the truth anyway.

Their history teacher entered the classroom and stopped Rachel from giving another comment. She pulled her history book out from her back. When she sat settled all her book on the table, Rachel noticed Quinn secretly kept the bouquet of flower that Sam gave her earlier. Sure it was slightly messy from the shoving, but they were still roses. Pretty.

Rachel placed her forearms on the desk and rested her forehead against it, burying her face against the desk. It was Thursday and the prom night was at the end of this week.

'_I guess I'm really not going then.'_

* * *

At lunchtime, Quinn said she had some books to borrow from the library. Rachel decided to go with her unlike the few previous days. "You're not having lunch with Finn?" Quinn asked as they walked to the library.

"Hm. Just told him that I'll be with you at the library," Rachel answered unenthusiastically.

"Are you sure you don't want to run to the cafeteria? He might wait for you there to serenade you and ask you to the prom, you know?" the taller girl teased as it was what Rachel had been doing the last couple of days.

But Rachel only chuckled. "Finn wouldn't sing in front of the whole school."

"He could pay the acapella club to do that for him." Rachel shook her head. "Note on your locker? What about that one? Don't you want to check it? He might leave something there."

"Quinn…" Rachel whined and slapped Quinn's arm lightly. "You're only making it clear that Finn doesn't want to do it," she pouted, "not because he can't."

Since the first time they announced the date for prom night, Rachel had obviously been excited about the whole thing. It was even safe to say that the whole school—if not the whole world—knew that Rachel wanted to come. Yet Finn's responds were always flat. She wondered if Finn was having a secret plan just like Sam for Quinn. She wondered if Finn was waiting for the right moment. So she waited and kept coming to the places where his schoolmates usually received their proposal.

But as everyday she watched everyone around her got themselves a prom date, Rachel reassessed her hope. Considering it was Finn, she thought she should've known that it wouldn't be anything grandeur. So she started to check out her locker, her books for a surprise note. A simple note asking her to come to the prom with Finn would be enough. But until the last week of school, the note still didn't come. And Rachel just wished Finn would ask her.

"Um…" Quinn started hesitantly, "he's not going with someone else, right?"

"No," Rachel answered, so sure and positive about it.

She trusted Finn. She knew her boyfriend. He wasn't into romantic things. If he ever comes to the prom, it would be because of Rachel. And maybe for dancing too. But other than that, she didn't see the reason why Finn would come. Especially not with someone other than her. "He's just not interested." Rachel lowered her voice once they stepped into the library. "I should've known that," she muttered.

The two girls saw Sam who sat on one of the chairs and waved at them, beckoning them to come with a bright smile.

"You go to your boyfriend," Rachel said with a sigh, "I'll go look for some books." After all, she knew better than to watch her two friends being all lovey dovey.

Rachel went to the biology section and picked one book that she knew had a lot of marine creatures in it. She had always loved underwater pictures and it never failed to calm him. That was Reason #3 on the List of Why Rachel Berry Believes She is a Fish in Her Previous Life.

As she flipped the pages, Rachel sighed and thought that maybe she could go to the beach instead at the end of this week. That way, she wouldn't have to worry about Finn not being interested as she knew the other brunette loved the beach as much as she did.

But a pair of arms around her shoulder and waist that held her from the back stopped her from thinking. She felt a soft peck on her nape and sighed once again. There must be no one around them right now, she thought, because Finn was too self-conscious to be affectionate in front of other people.

"Hey."

"Hmm," the older brunette answered as his face was still buried against Rachel's neck.

Finn breathed in the scent of Rachel mixed with the smell of old books around them. He swayed their bodies gently and opened his eyes slowly to gaze out to the school yard through the big window next to him.

A boy was asking a girl to come to the prom with him with balloons and flowers. Their friends around them were cheering as the girl nodded her head in agreement. The scene was not much different from what Sam did for Quinn earlier.

He saw how Rachel was watching the scene playing out before them. He couldn't read the expression on Rachel's face. The younger brunette was looking away too fast. Next thing he knew his girlfriend was once again flipping the pages on the book.

"The girl looks embarrassed." Finn tried to start a conversation. That was usually Rachel's part in their relationship.

"She looks happy to me," Rachel replied shortly.

"Well, I know who was embarrassed."

Finn pointed at Quinn from between the books on the shelves. Said girl was currently acting as if she was annoyed with Sam's blatant affection to her, just like usual.

But Rachel shook her head. "Even Quinn was happy when Sam asked her to the prom. I think _everyone_ would be happy if their boyfriend asked them to come to the prom in a special way." She freed herself from Finn's arms and turned away to sit, crossing her legs, on the floor.

The older brunette was rooted on his spot. "Does that suppose to mean something?"

"No," Rachel answered almost too quickly.

"But you," Finn sat on the floor next to his girlfriend, facing her, "are obviously sulking."

"No, I'm not." The younger brunette sounded offended.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No. You just have a different interest with me. And that's why I decided that we should go to the beach instead this weekend. You love the beach too, right?" Rachel didn't wait Finn to answer. "It's settled then. We're going to the beach this weekend."

"But I thought we're—."

"Yay! So exciting!" Rachel didn't sound excited at all. "Okay, now I'm going to check this book and get some lunch. Later, Finn!"

Finn could only stare up agape at his retreating girlfriend. It was so random that he couldn't even decipher what that was supposed to mean. Or even whether that meant anything.

"And here I thought she was so excited for prom." Finn tilted his head to the side and frowned. "She knows we're going, right?" He scratched his head. "Do I need to ask her? Does she want me to ask her?" He scratched his head harder. "I probably should, right? She likes to see those proposals. Is she waiting for me to ask her? But that's just stupid."

Finn couldn't help but to feel like a character from a bad drama as he muttered all those things to himself.

"Of course she's waiting for you to ask her, you stupid monkey." He received his answer from behind him. The older boy rolled his eyes and turned around to meet Quinn.

"It's Rachel," the younger girl stated, "the one who wants to marry you since she was five. And you really didn't think that she expected you to do every clichés written in the rules of courting?" Quinn scoffed. "I guess you're really that stupid."

"I am that stupid." Finn started to knock his head against the bookshelf in front of him, "Should've done it with fireworks or a plane writing the words in the sky."

"Or a simple note on her locker. That will do too, you know."

"No, it won't," Sam said, already standing behind Quinn. The basketball player thought Sam should stop being such a ninja. And how could he do that with his big built and everything.

"You have to do something big, Finn." Sam raised his eyebrows and it looked very convincing.

"Sam, he doesn't have time to prepare _something big_."

"No, Quinn. Sam's right." Finn suddenly stood up, the light bulb in his head obviously had been switched on.

"Good!" Sam held both of Finn's hands to give him support. "That's the spirit, Finn!"

"I know right. And I have you guys to help me."

"Wait! I've never said I agree to help anyone in this," Quinn tried to defend herself.

"We're so going to fix this, Finn."

"Oh my God," Quinn facepalmed, "Oh my God. You two are going to do something embarrassing. And the worst thing is, I'm going to be a part of it."

* * *

42… 43… 44…

Rachel counted the smudge on the wall as she waited for her best friend to finish her singing practice. After all of her refusal and unwillingness, their music teacher finally managed to convince Quinn to sing for the prom night. Said teacher had been impressed by Quinn's voice since the beginning of the music class this year and had half-forced Quinn to join the music practice now and then. When Sam heard the news, he was obviously more than ecstatic and began searching for a new handy-cam despite Quinn's threats.

Quinn should be out by now, but the teacher was still saying something to her when Rachel peeked inside the classroom. The tall girl's face was a bit troubled, and that expression stayed even when she finally walked out.

"Please think about what I say, ok?" the teacher said to Quinn who nodded solemnly and motioned Rachel to begin walking.

"What was the teacher saying?" Rachel asked as soon as they were out of the teacher's sight.

"Nothing…" But her face indicated far from nothing.

"Did the teacher said something bad about your singing?"

"No… it's not like that."

"Then what's the matter?"

"Nothing," Quinn said with finality in her tone before changing the subject. "Where's Finn?"

Rachel pouted, although she wasn't totally happy with Finn right now, she still preferred to walk home with him than without him. "With Sam. They said they had a group school project to do."

Quinn fought the urge to bang her head onto the wall. It was nearly the end of the semester. Teachers giving out school projects? Unlikely. That means Sam and Finn were up to something. Again.

* * *

"I still don't know why I should be looking into this," Finn frowned as he rummaged through the brochures. "Don't you think you should be looking at this with Quinn instead of me?"

"You know how Quinn is," Sam waved his hand. "The moment I bring up the subject, she would frown and say that we should just stay in the college dorm."

"Then maybe you should."

Sam made a face. "And where would be the fun in that? First, it was a zero chance that I get to room with her. Second, for the first two years I'd have to room with another person. Less freedom when she happened to visit me."

"Why do you always do things that will make her angry?" Finn sighed. "I swear you're a masochist."

"Oh, she's just shy," Sam chuckled. "Oh this one looks nice. Only five minutes away from the NYU, one master bedroom and one small bedroom—we can make that into a study room or for her own library…"

Finn shook his head. Sometimes he envied how Sam just looked at everything so positively. He still thought that Quinn will be angry with this one-sided decision, but the younger blonde had almost always been giving in to Sam's whims.

It must be nice to have rich parents like Sam's, Finn thought. He still could live with his girlfriend even after they both graduated from high school. And for the first time Finn wondered what it'd be like to live far away from Rachel.

"When are you planning to tell her about this anyway?"

"After the prom," Sam hummed, making notes on the next apartment that caught his interest, "In our first night together."

"Hmm…" Finn flipped open a random brochure, but then he sat up straight in a flash. "Wait, what!?"

"What? I said after the prom."

"No. After that. Y-you said in your first—."

"First night together, yes. In _that_ way," Sam grinned abashedly. "Well, if things go well I guess."

Finn gaped, unblinking. He finally found his voice back a minute later, "Have you been planning to do it?"

"Of course. This is prom night after all. Not long after that we will have to graduate and be separated from Rachel and Quinn for two years before Quinn can join me in New York. It would just be the right time." Sam chuckled, "I've even booked a hotel room, you know. Me and Quinn will have dinner first and I'll make sure to set the mood right. I'm still pondering whether I should prepare some flowers or not though… What do you think?"

"But…" Millions of things ran through Finn's mind. Questions, mostly. "Do you even know…"

Sam shot him a look, "I've done my share of research, thank you. I know how to make Quinn feel as little pain as possible. I've bought some condoms—."

"Whoa, whoa, hold it right there!" Finn covered his ears with both palms. "I don't think I want to hear about it anymore."

"Finn, you're acting like a teenager."

"We're both teenagers, if you haven't noticed."

"My point is that you're overreacting," the taller boy said. "It's only natural, Finn. Don't you want to do it with Rachel too?"

Now that, induced even more things to run through Finn's mind. Mental images, mostly. Finn covered his reddened face with his palm.

"It's not that I don't think about it."

"But?"

"Well, have you seen my girlfriend? Don't you think she's a bit like an overgrown five years old?"

The blonde boy tilted his head. "Hm… well yeah, sometimes. Oh wait! Does that make you a pedo?"

"What! Of course not, you idiot!" Finn shouted in panic. "_Overgrown_ five years old, not a real five years old. Meaning that although she acts and thinks like a kid, she's still my girlfriend…"

"…that you love," Sam added, being the helpful boy that he was.

"And her body is still a teenage girl's body that I… um… uh…" Finn couldn't finish his sentence.

"Lust over?" Sam's eyebrow lifted suggestively.

"Yeah," the brunette teen muttered.

"You want me to send you the links? So you can learn too?"

"No," Finn replied quickly. "I have my own sources," he added abashedly.

* * *

"Quinn~," Sam's voice came from behind her, making her turn and unintentionally met Sam's eager lips. She gasped and pulled back immediately.

"What did I say about public display of affection!?" She hissed before she looked around and glared at two giggling girls who witnessed the spectacle. She then dragged Sam inside the Math Clubroom right across them. She was on her way there when Sam popped up earlier.

"You said you hated it," Sam said, but his expression clearly told Quinn that it didn't matter.

"What are you doing here?" It was Saturday after all.

"Just wanted to see you before the prom tomorrow," Sam shrugged. "Your brother told me that you're here when I dropped by your home."

Quinn ignored him and sat down on one of the chairs, continuing on with her plan to tidy up a bit and grab a few things.

"So, have you bought a dress for the prom?"

"There's rental for that."

"You can't be meaning to wear a rented dress to the prom," Sam whined as he sat on the chair across the girl.

"Do you prefer me wearing my old dress? The one I wear to my brother's graduation?" Quinn said nonchalantly, "I don't know if the length still fits."

Sam pouted. "I knew you would be doing this halfheartedly. That's why I ordered a dress for you."

Quinn snapped her head around, "You what?"

"I saw this light blue dress the other day. Would look really good on you. I borrowed your old dress from your mother to get the basic size, but of course I made some adjustments on the length. So, don't worry, your new dress will fit you perfectly. You should've received it already when you get home."

The younger blonde grunted. Again, Sam was acting on his own without asking her first. Though if she had refused, Sam wouldn't listen anyway. "I can't believe my mother is ganging up with you against me."

"Aww, don't say that. She just wanted the best for her daughter and her daughter's future husband."

Quinn rolled her eyes and grabbed some papers from the cupboard, separating the trash from the essential. Sam watched her for a while before striking up a conversation, "Can you believe it, Quinn? Soon our high school days will be over."

"You're talking like an old man."

"Luckily we will go to the same university, or else I wouldn't know how to cope being away from you," Sam chuckled, but then he noticed the younger blonde tensed visibly. "Quinn?"

"Hmm," Quinn's gaze was fixed on the papers in front of her, obviously avoiding Sam's eyes. "NYU…"

"Yes, NYU, Quinn." Something was amiss, and Sam wasn't sure that he wanted to hear the next thing that comes out of Quinn's mouth.

"Sam…" Quinn eyes flickered at him, "What if I want to take the music major?"

Realization dawned in him sooner than he wanted. "There's no music major in NYU."

"The music teacher… he said that I can study music best at Berklee."

There was a long silence stretched between them. Quinn bit her lips and glanced at Sam, but the older blonde didn't say anything. Quinn was surprised, though, when Sam suddenly stood up, his chair making a screeching noise on the floor. "You said you wanted to become a lawyer!" Sam snapped, almost yelling.

"Sam…"

"We've agreed, Quinn! You will take the law major and I will take the business major! We've agreed since the first wave of college enrollment began! We've decided on NYU so that we can go together!"

Quinn knew Sam's reaction wouldn't be pretty. But that didn't mean she couldn't feel taken aback by the harsh outburst. She stood up slowly, "Sam, please listen—."

"Berklee! You do know that NYU is in the middle of New York, right? Of course you know. And you know what? Berklee is in Boston. Far from New York, far from Lima. And we thought 'oh, no problem, at least we will have each other'."

"It's not… It's not like we can't visit each other."

"Guess what, you wouldn't visit me." Sam pointed at her with a crude, accusing manner, "I know you, Quinn. You would be busy all week. I'm the one who's going to visit you." He laughed, but not at all good-naturedly. "And then you will act like my visit bothers you and before I know it, I will have to return to the apartment alone."

That diverted Quinn's attention. "Apartment? What apartment?"

Sam huffed, both hands on his hips. He looked even more furious. "I planned it as a surprise but now I guess it doesn't matter, does it? I rented an apartment for us to live together."

The younger blonde frowned. "What happened to the dorm?"

"Screw the dorm!" Sam yelled, "I wanted us to live together, just the two of us, not with strangers! Now it's all ruined, thanks to you."

"Who told you to go rent an apartment!?"

"Now you're blaming me!? You're the one who wanted to leave me!"

Quinn gaped and raised his voice, feeling unfairly attacked, "I never said anything like that!"

Sam kicked the leg of the desk, creating a loud bang as the side hit the wall, hard. It was rare enough for Sam to raise his voice. Even rarer for him to resort to physical outbursts. Quinn held back a frightened noise, feeling her hands trembled as Sam stared at her with the most infuriated look that no one else had the privilege to see. _'Congratulations, Quinn,'_ she told herself bitterly.

"I can't believe you just tell me now," he stressed each word clearly. "I can't believe you."

"I haven't made up my mind until yesterday, ok?" Quinn said dejectedly, trying to make Sam understand. "I didn't even realize how much I want music until the music teacher reminded me that I _can_ study music in college. He told me that it would be a pity for me to not pursue it. I know that I want it then—."

Sam didn't say anything and turned around, making his way to exit the room. He refused to hear it, he didn't want to care.

"I told my family last night." Quinn's small voice stopped him on the doorway. "My dad was against it. He told me how stupid I am to choose music over law. He didn't understand." He didn't need to turn around to know that Quinn was tearing up. The younger blonde's voice was faltering. "I thought… you would understand."

In any other situation, Sam would've turn around and hug her, apologizing to her for making her upset. But Sam was feeling too much anger, too betrayed. "What I understand," his voice was harsher than he wanted to, "is that you don't seem to realize how much effort I put in keeping us together. And to me, you also don't seem to mind us being apart." Then he disappeared outside the clubroom.

* * *

After taking a shower, changing her clothes and skipping along the way, Rachel stood in front of Quinn's house, but Nate told her that Quinn was at school, wanting to practice for one last time for her performance later. He could only giggled at the way Rachel waved at him before bouncing happily to the school.

Rachel finally found her best friend in the music room. She didn't step in right away because the younger girl was singing with that beautiful voice of her. A smile grew on her face as she imagined Quinn as a singer, a real, professional singer. The younger girl would do great.

When Quinn was done, Rachel clapped her hands and squealed, but she was frozen when Quinn turned in surprise. The taller girl's eyes were puffed, as if she had been crying all night. "Rachel?" Quinn blinked, "What are you doing here?"

"I…" Rachel wanted to ask what was wrong, but her brain wouldn't work with her. "I just wanted to tell you that Finn finally asked me to be his prom date last night…"

_'Stupid Rachel,'_ she scolded herself inwardly, _'Why would you even say that when your friend had obviously been crying?'_

"Yeah? That's great." Quinn rarely smiled, preferring to scowl all the time, but when she does, Rachel found her best friend more endearing than usual. No wonder Sam liked the girl so much. But now, Quinn's smile was weak, if not a bit forced, making Rachel felt guilty for being the reason of why Quinn had to force her smile. "So how did he ask you?"

"It doesn't matter," Rachel hurriedly said. Her eyes caught the sight of a gift box, unwrapped to reveal an expensive looking light blue dress. "Wow… is that your dress for tonight?"

Quinn's half-smile smile faltered. "Yeah… Sam bought it for me."

"Really?" Rachel rushed to the dress to get a closer look, afraid to even touch it. "You would look so good in it. You're lucky to have Sam—Q-Quinn?" The older girl widened her eyes at the sight of a crying Quinn.

"You're the lucky one, Rachel. You're going to come with Finn."

"But you're going to come with Sam too, right? He already asked you."

Quinn's tears fell silently as she shook her head. "We had a fight."

"Then you just have to make up, right? Sam always come to apologize to you when you two are in a fight. You just have to wait. We still have time until tonight—."

"No, Rachel," Quinn shook her head again, this time a bit more urgently. "Sam was so angry at me. I don't think he would ever..."

Rachel was silenced by that. Sam? Angry at Quinn? That was so uncharacteristic of him. In fact, it had never happened before—.

At times like this, Rachel was reminded by the fact that Quinn was after all the youngest one in their circle. But being her, Rachel could say nothing to calm Quinn down. The younger girl refused to tell her anything, so Rachel just hugged her tight and patted her head in a way that would hopefully make her feel better. She waited until the crying stopped before taking Quinn home. She pondered if she should call Sam and beg him to make up with Quinn because Quinn looked so sad, but that would be what her mother call 'poking her nose into someone else's business'. That is bad, her mother had said, and it would only make everything worse in most cases.

So Rachel went home and prayed for her friends.

"Wow, look at you!" Nate said, "My baby sister looks so gorgeous!"

"Nate," Quinn shot him a look so that he could hurry up. Nate had insisted to be the one who drive her to the hair salon, no matter how much Quinn refused by saying that she could do it by herself, thank you. At least she wouldn't have to face her squealing mother too since she was out of town for a wedding, dragging her father along with her (Quinn had suspected that her mother did it to cool the tension between her and her father after the whole college argument).

"I can always trust your boyfriend's taste in classy clothing like this. See, Quinn, if only you would broaden your horizon. Clothes aren't just about dress and cardigans, you know?" Nate said as he helped Quinn to zip her dress. "Alright, done! Now, when will Sam be here?"

Quinn stayed silent, checking her appearance on the mirror once more before grabbing her purse. Nate followed her downstairs with a frown. "What? Is Sam here already?"

"No," his sister finally said. "He's not coming."

"What do you mean? He's not coming to the prom? You can't be serious."

Quinn shrugged, "He's not coming with me, that's for sure."

Nate's face turned worried. "Are you two having a fight?"

"I'm off, Nate," Quinn waved, obviously avoiding the question. Nate could only watch her disappearing back.

* * *

**In celebration of the anticipating #glee100, I decided to update it now. So, to clear things up, since Sam and Finn are two years older than Quinn and Rachel, while the boys are seniors, the girls are sophomore. Anyway, ****I've been working on the 18th chapter of 'Answers' which will be the BIG chapter you've been waiting when in the mean time, chapter 17 is still half-written. But don't worry, it's almost done. You'll get to read it soon enough.**

**RJRRAA**: Hey, there! Thanks for reviewing. Well, Sam came from a very rich family (never really mentioned it before, did I?) and let just say that his dad bought it for him ;) Anyway, hope you'll like this one :)

**noro**: Hello there! Thanks for the review. Hope you'll enjoy this one too :)

**Nicole**: Hey gurl! Thanks for dropping by and thanks for the review. God, IKR? Even myself is embarrassed when I remember that story. The language, everything, ugh damn awkward. The First Day, When You Love Someone, even Date in Paradise are kinda crappy. I think I finally find the flow during Just Give Me a Reason and also Answers. Wow, so many stories already. Even some of them not complete yet but I'll get back to those later (if I'm not lazy, ha!). Anyway, every time I read your reviews (for any story), I just want to respond to you immediately but since you don't really have any account here, I can't PM you :\ Maybe twitter? You can find me under the same name of this :) Sorry, I'm rambling. Hope you'll like this one too :)

**Overgron**: Hello there! Thanks for dropping by. They're in high school now. Sam and Finn are seniors, Quinn and Rachel are sophomore. They've been friends since they were kids. Hope you'll enjoy this one too :)

**I'm going to leave it now. Thank you everyone who's been reading this story and favorite/follow. It means a lot. Keep the reviews coming. Tell me, whether you like it or hate it. Any questions will do too. If you want faster respond, you can ask me on twitter. You can find me under the same name. Anyway, I'll see you guys again real soon :) See ya!**


	5. Prom Night - Part 2

She sighed as she arrived in front of the school gym. Students were arriving in couples, sometimes groups, but it wasn't the fact that she came alone that bothered her. She felt stupid now. What was she doing? What was she hoping to achieve by coming here? Wearing the dress given by Sam nonetheless. She saw the date on the package slip. Sam had sent the dress before they got into a fight. Quinn was pretty sure that the older blonde regretted it now.

Quinn felt the silky material of the dress as her eyes trailed to her bracelet. It was also a gift from Sam and before she knew it, the bracelet had become her favorite.

"_What I understand is that you don't seem to realize how much effort I put in keeping us together." _

Always, always the best for her. Sam had never done anything halfheartedly whenever Quinn was involved. Most of the time it was to the point of embarrassing, but no one would say that Quinn was unlucky to have him. Neither would Quinn say so.

She braced herself to enter the hall and was welcomed by the festivity of the night—the blaring music and the chatting of the students complete with almost too shiny decorations covering every corner of the gym. As her eyes skimmed through the dressed up students, a thought suddenly popped up in her mind. What if Sam didn't even come—oh. Never mind. There he was. Enjoying himself in the middle of the swarming girls.

Quinn almost strolled down there and glared at everyone before she reminded herself that she probably no longer had the right to do so, so she stopped on her tracks and watched. The girls looked shameless in Quinn's opinion. One kept on chuckling flirtatiously. Another draped an arm around Sam's back—.

"Can we talk?" Before she knew it, she was already standing in front of them.

Sam's expression was unreadable when he stared at Quinn. He finally excused himself from the girls and followed Quinn to a sheltered corner behind the gym bleachers. Quinn watched nervously when Sam opened his mouth to speak, but then she decided she couldn't take it.

"Listen, before you say anything," Quinn raised a hand, "I've decided to enroll to the NYU later after all."

There was a look of surprise, but Sam said nothing.

"Berklee was too far from home. My parents wouldn't let me stay in the dorm. Imagine staying under an apartment alone throughout my college life," the younger blonde forced a smile. "Besides… I… music have no future, right? Law, on the other hand, is brimming with prospects. It would be stupid to—."

"It's your dream." There was something in that tone. "I've been thinking too. Maybe… Maybe it's the best for us to separate anyway."

Her heart skipped a beat. "What? Sam… please," her voice began to tremble as she was on the verge of panic. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. I'm sorry for not asking you first."

"Q, listen—."

"It doesn't matter, okay? I'll enroll to NYU too so we can be together, okay? Can we stop fighting?"

Sam's hands were firmly planted on Quinn's shoulders in an attempt to stop her from talking, "No, Q, what I mean is—."

What could she do? She could only process the word 'no' and her mind went blank with fright. Quinn felt her eyes watered as she grabbed Sam's hands in desperation. "No! Sam, please! I don't wanna fight anymore! Please don't break up with me—."

"No! No! Q, listen! I'm not going to break up with you!"

Quinn looked up, uncertain and more scared than anything. Scared that she had heard wrongly. "You're not…?"

"Oh, God, NO!" Sam pulled her close, crushing her against his broad chest and kissing the side of Quinn's face. "How could you even think about it?"

"I was…" Quinn pulled back a bit, "You're really not going to…?"

"Never," Sam shook his head firmly, feeling guilty for making Quinn think like that, albeit not on purpose. "You could never get rid of me. Never, ever, ever, ever…" he whispered until he finally felt Quinn's tension eased up. He leaned down, touching their foreheads together.

"But… you said that we might be better off separated…"

"No, not in that way," Sam said hurriedly. He huffed and stroke Quinn's face gently. "I'm just embarrassed. I mean, I actually got mad like that…"

Quinn shook her head. "I know I'm selfish for—."

"I'm the selfish one," Sam interrupted. "I realized it as soon as I cool my head off yesterday, but I couldn't face you after I reacted like that. So I just came here, hoping that you would come and that I could gather enough guts to apologize to you."

"You don't need to apologize."

"But I was acting up because you wanted to pursue your dream… when I know you have the talent the size of a killer whale."

"The largest whale is the blue ones," Quinn said reflexively before she could help herself.

"That's my Quinn," Sam laughed. "I don't know why you still wanna be with me."

The younger blonde made a little whining sound (that she would never admit when tomorrow comes) and Sam kissed her gently on the lips before burying his nose on Quinn's soft, golden hair, inhaling the sweet scent that belonged only to the younger blonde.

"Are we… okay now?" Quinn asked, still uneasy.

"We're perfect. And you should go to Berklee. I'll help you to convince your father too."

"…but…"

"No buts. You will go to Berklee and I will go to NYU. When we get back together, I want to show you a better Sam, someone that you can be proud of. Someone that would support you no matter what." Sam smiled, "But be prepared. I will visit you a lot."

"Then what's the point of being in different universities?" Quinn asked rhetorically, but a smile began to grow on her face, creating that small dimple just under her lips. Her cheeks are pink with contentment and Sam could do with one more kiss…

Quinn's phone rang almost annoyingly. It was the music teacher, desperately looking for her as she should be on stage in ten minutes.

Sam smiled, "My little star is busy."

"Shut up," Quinn said, but without any venom behind it. "I have to go."

"Wait," Sam grabbed one of Quinn's hands before she could leave. The younger blonde turned questioningly. Sam inhaled deeply, suddenly feeling tense. It was a big question on the tip of his tongue. He probably would've chickened out if not for the fact that Quinn was staring at their linked hands with a little smile on her face.

"Q…" he called out, making Quinn look back at him. "Do you… want to spend the night with me?"

There was a moment of confusion at first, but Sam's expression was enough to tell Quinn what he meant.

"Of course I'm not pressuring you or anything, but… If you're ready, I'm ready."

That was the point where Quinn was supposed to frown at Sam for proposing such indecency. After all, this was Quinn who would scowl at the older blonde's public kisses and other embarrassing display of affection.

But as Quinn stared at the boy before her, tall and gentle and stunning in his black designer suit, hopeful and nervous at the same time for Quinn's answer, the younger blonde found out that she wanted him.

"Yes," she finally said. A shy smile escaped before she could stop herself, but at least she managed not to blush until she turned around and ran to the stage.

Behind her, Sam bit his lip in an attempt to stifle a relieved cry.

That night, Quinn practically shone on the stage. Sam patted himself on the back for buying that new handy-cam.

* * *

Rachel was glad to see her two best friends on good terms again. It was kind of disheartening to see them fighting when prom night was supposed to be one of the best times of your life. And Sam must have had already prepared everything for this night too. It would be so sad if they couldn't enjoy this moment together.

A gentle squeeze around her waist brought her back from her daydreaming. Rachel raised her head from the shoulder that she had been leaning on to look at her boyfriend.

"What are you thinking?" Finn asked softly.

"Nothing," Rachel's answer came as almost a whisper. "Just happy to see Sam recording Q singing on stage. They're cute."

"And Quinn has a really great voice."

"Hmm. My best friend is singing while I'm slow-dancing with my boyfriend. Isn't that just perfect?"

Rachel had a stupid grin on her face as she gave Finn the question. How could she not be stupidly happy when her self-conscious, anti-PDA boyfriend was willing to dance with her in front of the whole school. It was just them dancing. And Rachel didn't want the night to end.

On the other side of the room, Sam greeted Quinn who was stepping down the stage with his arms wide open. The younger blonde willingly (and uncharacteristically) let herself being embraced by her affectionate boyfriend.

"I can never be like Sam."

"Don't even think to try, Finn."

"I mean, he really thinks about everything. Planning how to ask Quinn to the prom like that, ordering a dress for her, booking a suite and even renting an apartment for them to live in together in college." The older brunette ranted his thought without realizing how his girlfriend was suddenly tensing up.

"Sam booked a suite?" Finn heard the innocent question from Rachel's mouth.

"Well, yeah, for tonight, you know." He suddenly felt awkward if he had to explain it to his naïve girlfriend.

"So… they're going to do _it_ tonight?" Rachel took a peek at her boyfriend's tense face.

"Um… that's… yes."

Finn tried to look away, anywhere else but at Rachel's face. But the gaze he got was intense. And Finn didn't know what that means. A small part of his brain told him that Rachel was asking, probably waiting his explanation that they were going to do it too. But the bigger part of him refused to listen to it. Because he believed—or at least wanted to believe—that his Rachel was pure and untainted. And to even suggest such thing to her would be abominable.

* * *

Sam and Quinn rode the car in silence. The blonde boy couldn't guess what was running through Quinn's mind, but his own mind was a bundle of nervous thoughts. Quinn was staring at her hands on her lap the whole time. She wanted to strike up a conversation, but decided against it. Who knew what could come out of her restless mouth?

Thankfully, the hotel he booked wasn't far from the school but just enough distance from their houses. "My brother will get worried if I don't tell him I'm not coming home," Quinn suddenly broke the silence just as they pulled into the parking lot, nearly making Sam jumped.

"Your parents?" The older blonde asked with a glance at the passenger seat.

"Out of town. A wedding." Quinn pulled out her cell phone, "What should I say?"

"Should we tell the truth?"

"Stop kidding me. It's enough that you asked for my hand in marriage when we were kids in front of my whole family—who are you texting?" The younger blonde frowned when she noticed Sam busy typing a message on his cell phone.

"Your brother."

"You—!" She reached out to grab Sam's phone, but the older blonde was laughing and slipped out of the car in a flash. Quinn scowled and followed suit before she realized that they were at a parking lot. "Wait, this isn't your house."

"Of course it's not." Sam smiled, amused that Quinn had just noticed it now. So he wasn't the only one feeling nervous.

"Don't tell me you've booked a room," Quinn squinted her eyes in disbelief when she saw the hotel's name plastered to the lobby entrance. "Have you been planning on this?"

"It was a fifty-fifty chance," the older blonde shrugged and took Quinn's hand, walking them towards the lobby. "Either you agree to it or you kick me on the balls and feed me to the fishes."

"Can I kick you just for the sake of it before we go upstairs?"

"Then how will I satisfy you?" Quinn glared and twisted Sam's hand backward. "OWW! Just kidding!"

Quinn didn't let him go until they entered the lobby. She tensed a bit when Sam checked them in, somehow too aware of what they were about to do and knew that everyone in the lobby must've realized it, at least the receptionist lady. But this time she had to thank Sam for choosing the five-star hotel. Waste of money, yes, but the staffs are trained not to ask questions.

Silence fell between them once more when they rode up the elevator right into their room. A penthouse, she should've known. She held back her groan but then she saw the dining table, all set with foods and candlelight.

"Are you stupid? We just filled ourselves up with food at prom. And now you wanted us to have dinner again?"

"Romantic dinner," Sam corrected, but he looked abashed. "Well, yeah, I guess I missed the fact that we would have eaten. This is practically the only thing I could think of to set up the mood. I mean, we can talk over candlelight and—." His rambling was swallowed by Quinn's lips, plastering against his out of nowhere. There was a soft 'pop' when Quinn pulled back slightly. Sam grinned, almost stupidly, "Whoa."

"You talk too much," Quinn whispered with a tint of blush on her cheeks. It was a bold action that surprised them both. "Now what?"

"Is it okay?" Sam asked as he gently wrapped an arm around Quinn's waist, pulling the girl closer. "Is it really okay?"

"This is the umpteenth time you ask me that question." Quinn scoffed, but her blush was deepening, "My answer remains the same."

A tiny shriek escaped from Quinn's mouth when Sam suddenly scooped her into his arms, carrying her bridal style. Before she could protest though, Sam was already in the process of lowering her down… onto the bed. The soft mattress and pillows embraced her from the back as Sam hovered over her. "Sorry, I haven't got a chance to order the flowers before we got into a fight. I didn't think that this would happen."

"If your plan was to fill the bed with roses, then I'm glad we fought."

Sam chuckled and kissed her, slow and languid, simply enjoying the feeling of their lips pressed together. The tip of his tongue probed Quinn's soft lips and the younger blonde granted his request. Their tongues tangled with each other for a while before Sam pulled away, breathless.

He stared deep into Quinn's eyes as his fingers reached for Quinn's dress' zipper.

"Turn the lights off," the younger blonde said as soon as he realized Sam was starting the process of undressing her.

"Why? I want to see you," Sam smirked and pulled the zipper down. This feels like unwrapping a gift. A gift called Quinn's naked body. Oh, how many times had he been imagining it…

"I'm not doing it with lights on!" Quinn insisted, her hands grasping Sam's wrists. Her face was set with determination.

"Fine… how about I leave only the bedside lamps on?"

Quinn opened her mouth, about to protest, but Sam attacked her lips once more, successfully distracting her. She heard some clicking sounds, and when she fluttered her eyes open, the bedside lamps were the only source of light in the room.

"Okay?" Sam asked, watching how the light cast an almost golden glow on the younger girl's face. He couldn't wait to see the rest of her skin bathed in the same lighting.

Quinn seemed to be unable to speak, so she just nodded. Sam lunged and abused the junction between her neck and her shoulder, making sure that there would be a mark later on, a mark that will tell the whole world that Quinn was his. Quinn hissed when he bit down, looking a bit annoyed at the action, so Sam chuckled and kissed her square on the lips before continuing to undress the younger blonde.

He pulled the dress down, undoing her bra, and kissed every inch of the exposed skin, feeling Quinn arching up under him. He pulled the rest of Quinn's dress off along with her panties almost in one swift move, only getting more aroused by the surprised gasp from the younger blonde.

He took off his own clothes in a flash, all the while enjoying the sight of the bare slender figure before pressing onto Quinn and groaned at the sensation of one sweaty body rubbing against another. All the secret fantasies he had couldn't compare to the real thing. His hands were traveling everywhere, not missing an inch of the smooth skin offered under him. "Q… so perfect…" he whispered between his kisses.

Meanwhile, Quinn's own hands were wandering around Sam's neck and shoulders uncertainly. She hated to admit it, but she didn't know what to do. "Just leave everything to me," Sam said softly, sensing Quinn's confusion. "Hold on to me and let me love you."

Quinn stared up at the boy. There was so much love inside his eyes that Quinn couldn't help but blush. The way Sam hovered over her was practically overwhelming since the older blonde had a bigger built than her by default. She reached up, wrapping her arms around Sam's neck and whispered, "I trust you."

After he reached for the condom, Sam asked, "Are you ready?" he kissed her and get a slight nod in return. By the time they were done, they were panting, out of breath, and Sam slumped down Quinn. Neither of them could talk for some time, breathless and still basking in the afterglow of their first love making.

"I'm so grateful to have met you, Q," Sam finally said, staring right into his lover's eyes. He gently stroked Quinn's hair, fingers playing with her sweat-drenched hair. "I love you so, so much." He leaned down, showering the girl's face with soft kisses.

"You're heavy," Quinn said flatly as she attempted to push him away.

Sam chuckled and pressed down instead. "Yeah? I won't get off you until you say that you love me too."

Quinn's glare hardly made an effect when she was all flushed up and with eyes somewhat unfocused. She seemed to realize it and sighed in resignation at the end. "Fine…" She bit her lips in an attempt to hide her smile. Sam looked as expectant as a puppy. "I love you. Happy?"

The older blonde answered with a deep, wet kiss.

* * *

"Oh God, this is just creepy," was the first thing Quinn said when she woke up to Sam's dimpled wide smile. How long had he been watching her?

"Morning," Sam pecked her nose. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Or maybe not. Sharp pain shot through her spine when she made a move to sit up. She fell back to the bed helplessly. "I will be fine soon."

"Come here, let me check on you—."

Quinn glared and pulled the blanket higher above her chest, "So you can get a chance to molest me some more? No, thank you."

Sam chuckled and leaned closer, "Well, now that you've said that…"

The younger blonde shoved him away and turned around, back facing Sam, wincing a bit at the sore feeling caused by the motion. An arm wrapped around her blanket-covered waist and pulled her closer to Sam's welcoming figure. Quinn had to stifle some pleased noise when the older boy began to nibble at her nape.

"You hungry? It's my dream to serve you breakfast in bed."

"Later." Right now, she just wanted to be cocooned in the warmth and safety called Sam. Not that she would ever tell Sam that. "Hey… Sam?"

"Hmm?"

"I will visit you, you know, at the college," she suddenly said, "Maybe without telling you beforehand, so you better not go anywhere."

"Of course." Quinn couldn't see him, but it was obvious that Sam was grinning. After all, his mouth was pressed onto the back of her neck. "But if you take too long, you should be prepared of me showing up at your campus and kiss you in front of everyone."

"Haven't you done enough of that in high school?"

"It's never enough," Sam said before he weaved their fingers together. It would be perfect if they had their rings already, but Quinn already forbid him from buying the rings before he got his own job and house (and a car, but that was taken care of already).

There was a sound coming from Quinn's phone, telling her that she had received a message. Sam pouted when he was forced to pick it up, clearly not pleased for the interruption. Quinn flipped open her phone as Sam watched from the side. It was her brother.

_Morning, baby sister! I've told Sam not to get too excited last night. Tell me if you get hurt and I'll kick his ass myself. _

Quinn groaned and blushed. "I hate you," she told Sam. The older blonde grinned stupidly and kissed her. The kiss soon turned heated, wet and long and needy. After all, it wasn't hard to get aroused when you're making out without any clothes on. There was that hungry look in Sam's eyes when he broke the kiss.

"Q… can we…"

Quinn shook her head, "I'm still…"

"Please," Sam pleaded, stealing another kiss. As usual, Quinn gave in to him and they repeated on what they did last night.

* * *

"Sam, I swear, if you—."

"Aww, don't be like that, Q. They're in trouble, see?"

"I don't care! They can take care of it themselves! SAM—!"

"Hey, guys!" Sam halted his car right next to his two friends, waving from his rolled down window. "Trouble?"

Finn raised his head from the opened hood of his father's car. Rachel waved from behind him. "Hi, Sam! Hi, Q!" She added when she noticed Quinn on the passenger seat, currently ducking as if that could make her invisible from outside. "The car just died in the middle of the road, Finn had been trying to fix it, but—."

"The battery just needs some distilled water," Finn interrupted. "We'll be good in a few minutes."

"Okay… So I guess you don't need a ride," Sam shrugged. "Where are you going so early in the morning? Or should I say… you just got back from somewhere?"

Both of the brunette blushed, but Finn also scowled. "Shut up, Sam. As if you're not guilty yourself."

"Guilty as charged," Sam said, but he beamed sheepishly as he said it, as if he had been looking forward to that remark. He reached beside him to hold Quinn's hand, but the younger girl slapped his hand away while still refusing to look at Rachel and Finn. If that didn't scream embarrassment, Finn didn't know what did. But of course Sam was either oblivious or simply ignorant. Finn bet on the latter, as usual.

"Sam…" Quinn growled dangerously.

"Okay, okay," Sam pinched her cheek and earned a murderous glare in return. "We'll be off now! I should take Quinn home soon or her brother would be worried." Another blatant hint that they had spent the night outside.

"That asshole," Finn muttered as soon as the Audi drove off. "He just wanted to show off about last night."

* * *

**Hey guys! Thank you for sticking around with this story. Just a bit spoiler for the next chapters, we're going to move it to college and see how Sam and Quinn deal with their long distance relationship. We're also going to have more Finchel there.**

**noro**: Hello there! Thanks for dropping by. Sorry for the wait. Hope you'll like this one too :)

**gogolax**: Hello there! Thanks for the review. I got your point and I agree with you with the whole thing of Sam being selfish. In this chapter though, Sam admitted to Quinn that he's the selfish one. This incident between them is actually the great reason for Sam to realize that. Hope you'll enjoy this one :)

**Nicole**: Hey gurl! Seriously, no worries. I totally understand that. I appreciate everything, really. Hope you'll enjoy this one too :)

**Thank you for everyone who read this story. Please stick around cause there's still more to come for both Fabrevans and Finchel. As usual, leave me some reviews. Let me know, whether you love it or hate it. Any questions or criticsms are welcome too. I'll see you again soon :)**


	6. In Sickness and In Health

Quinn sighed, struggling to keep her eyes open. She was approximately 300 words away from finishing the report. Three hundred words and she promised to deal with her would-be-desperate-by-now boyfriend. If she was lucky, within five minutes she would be able to convince him that no, she didn't ignore him on purpose. She just really needed that distraction-free time to finish the fricking report. Then she could finally, _finally_ get that sleep she had been yearning for hours…

"Quuuuuuiiiiiinnnnnnn!" A voice that obviously belonged to her childhood friend almost made her jump. It was followed by a series of obnoxious knocks on the door. "Quuuuuiiiiiinnnn! I know you're in there!"

Unlike cell phones, this couldn't be turned off. Despite Rachel's tendency to be easily distracted, she could also be persistent as hell. She had no choice. "What do you want?" Quinn snapped as she opened the door.

Rachel's eyes were wide when she saw the girl. "Whoa, Q, you look awful."

"Please don't tell me Sam sends you here again," Quinn said, knowing that it was an empty hope.

The older girl spoke into her cell phone, "Sam, she looks awful. Bloodshot eyes and messy hair—."

The young girl snatched the phone and spoke in hushed anger, "Hi Sam. Why did you send Rachel here? Had I not tell you that I have a very important paper to finish? Had I not tell you that I will call you as soon as I'm done with it?"

"I was worried." Quinn could imagine Sam pouting, and she could also imagine herself smacking the older blonde's face. "Your cell phone was turned off."

"Because you would insist on calling me anyway."

"Just to make sure that you're okay!"

"And waste my precious fifteen minutes for each call," Quinn groaned. "I'm beginning to regret my decision to stay in the dorm. You utilize Rachel and Finn to spy on me."

"'Spy' wouldn't be the word I use. Try 'taking care of the lover'."

"Can I go to sleep now?"

"Are you done with your paper?"

Quinn slapped her palm on her face. "Three hundred words more to go."

"Then I'll accompany you through the phone."

The young girl disconnected the call and threw the phone back to its owner. "If you dare to interrupt me again, I'll flush your pet fish down the toilet."

She enjoyed the moment of satisfaction at seeing Rachel's utter look of horror before slamming the door closed. There was no more interruption that night (or was it dawn already?), but she tried not to think of the impending flood of text messages from Sam in the morning as soon as she turned her cell phone on.

* * *

Quinn was never one to dwell around the lecturers after the class was over. She preferred to go straight to the library or back to the dorm. The papers wouldn't finish themselves (and neither would her books). Today, though, she just wanted to go back and sleep. She hadn't been feeling well since she woke up. Minor flu could be so annoying.

Being Quinn, she didn't like to stand out much in the classes, including the Voice and the Harmony class taught by Mr. Schue, so she was surprised when said lecturer suddenly called her at the end of the class, "Quinn Fabray, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Mr. Schuester quickly became one of her favorite lecturers since the beginning of the year. Yes, both of his first year classes were strict, but he was also resourceful and appreciative when you deserve it, not to mention his extensive experience in the music industry.

Quinn blinked and approached the professor who was sitting on his chair. The only thing that came up in her mind was the paper she submitted at the beginning of the class. She didn't think that she did badly at all, despite the fact that she had worked on it through the night-slash-dawn, but she wasn't so sure now—. Wait, he couldn't possibly had checked the papers already, could he? Shit, her mind was a mess, damn headache—.

"Don't look so tense, I'm not here to scold you or anything," Mr. Schue suddenly said with a hint of amusement. "I'm here to talk to you about something that you might be interested in."

Quinn raised an eyebrow, "Like?"

"Can you do something for me first?" Mr. Schue took a piece of paper from his bag and placed it in front of him. It was the score of a famous ballad song by Whitney Houston. "You know this song, right? Sing the first two lines for me."

The young girl hesitated, but under Mr. Schue's encouraging stare, she picked the score and began to sing. There was a huge smile on Mr. Schue's face when Quinn was done. "Just as I thought," he said. "I've noticed since the beginning. You may hide in the background, but your voice just stood out from the rest."

That was a compliment… right? Quinn had just started to wonder if she should say 'thank you' when the older man leaned forward in his chair and said, "How would you like a job opportunity?"

* * *

"Q! Over here!" Rachel waved from one of the cafeteria tables, "What took you so long? Wasn't your class supposed to be over twenty minutes ago?"

"I…" Quinn huffed, slightly out of breath. She was running from the class, excited to deliver the news to the rest of her friends. "I got a job."

Rachel watched the way Quinn sparkled with glee and excitement. She suddenly remembered Sam's request to take a photo of "special Quinn moments" (he even made a list). Usually, Quinn would notice and snapped at Rachel, but when Rachel took the shot with her cell phone, Quinn didn't even bother to glare.

"A job?" Rachel asked. "A job, part-time job or…?"

"Mr. Schue, one of my professors, asked me just now if I would like to be a part of his team. He owned this music production house which handles advertising jingles and various background songs and themes and…" Quinn had to stop to take a breath. It was rare to see her this ecstatic. "He even said that he already had two jingles for me to sing."

Rachel squealed, "Q, that's great! I mean, you're still in the first year and you've already grabbed the attention of a producer!"

"Well," Quinn blushed slightly. "Not _that_ kind of a producer, but—." Her words were cut off when Rachel crushed her into a bear hug.

"What happened?" asked Finn who just joined their table and saw his girlfriend giving Quinn a crushing hug.

Rachel let go of Quinn only to offer her cheek to be kissed by Finn. The dancer complied and gave her a quick peck but not without a reddened face. Rachel was beyond happy that Finn was more open to show his affection in public now that they've enrolled in the college.

The brunette girl also didn't miss the eye-roll Quinn threw at the scene in front of her. Quinn always said that she was annoyed by her and Finn's barely-there PDA. But Rachel knew that Quinn was secretly jealous of them because they could do that everyday, while Quinn was… well, Sam was in another town. Although, it wasn't like Quinn would let Sam do that whenever he wanted. Quinn would most likely slap him since she was easily embarrassed.

"Great. Congratulation, Q," Finn congratulated the blonde girl after Rachel explained to him about the news.

"No wonder your face looked flushed," Rachel said to her best friend. "I thought you were sick or something."

"Well…" Quinn shrugged.

"What? Are you sick for real?" Rachel frowned.

"Before you can overreact, it's only a minor flu, ok. If you make a fuss about it, I'll kick your ass," Quinn glared.

Rachel gulped and changed the topic back to the joyful news. "Have you told Sam about the job?"

"No!" the younger girl frowned at Rachel. "Don't tell him yet."

"Why? You should've told him before you tell us anyway."

"He has a paper due tomorrow. I _will_ tell him after he's done with it."

"Good news shouldn't wait, Q. It will rot away," Rachel pouted, although he knew how one-track minded Sam could be when it comes to Quinn. Sam would most likely ended up fussing over Quinn's glorious moment and neglected his paper. It wouldn't be the first time. But still… "Besides, Sam would be sad if he doesn't hear it from you right away."

"He will hear it from me, Rach, if you can keep it a secret for just a bit more," Quinn glared, causing Rachel to whimper and hide herself behind Finn. "So don't you dare sending that photo—yes, I saw you taking my picture earlier—until I tell him."

"Fine, fine." Rachel finally gave up although she was still pouting from being scolded. It didn't help that Finn only laughed at her. Rachel narrowed her eyes and pinched hard on Finn's side.

"Ouch!" The dancer jerked up at the stinging pain.

"Don't laugh at your girlfriend," Rachel warned. But Finn knew better than taking her act seriously, because instead of acting cold, Rachel wrapped her arms around Finn and rested her chin on Finn's shoulder (which caused Quinn to groan on the other side of the table). "Do you have practice again this afternoon?"

"Yup."

"Can I watch?"

"Even if I say no, you would still come, right?"

"Of course."

"Dinner after practice?"

Instead of answering, Rachel pulled away slightly from Finn so that she could grin brightly and nod eagerly. Oh how Finn wanted to just kiss her right there and then.

* * *

"Q, please open the doooooor." Rachel accompanied her whine with a few more knocks.

She had been standing in front of Quinn's room for a good five minutes now, but the younger girl still refused to let her in. Rachel wouldn't give up, because she needed her best friend right now.

"Q, I need to talk to you. Come on, open the door."

"No! I wanna sleep!" Rachel heard the muffled answer from inside the room.

"But I'm upset. Finn's being annoying. And I swear I'll cry if I'm left alone in my room tonight."

"Not my business. Go cry to your boyfriend!"

"I can't! He has a rehearsal!" Rachel kicked Quinn's room door and slid down the wall to crouch down against it. Her tears were starting to pool around the corner of her eyes. A moment later she heard the door opened and she saw a pair of feet next to where she sat. "I mean who has a rehearsal at 10 pm. He's not even an celebrity dancer."

"Last time I checked, you tweeted that you're having dinner with Finn," Quinn said. And Rachel looked up at her.

"We did." The brunette girl stood up and followed her younger friend into her room. "But then he walked me back here and said that he couldn't stay. He said his dance partner is only free tonight. So they have to rehearse tonight."

"I thought you've stopped being jealous of his dance partner." Quinn lay on her bed and slipped back inside her blanket until all her body and face were covered.

"I'm not jealous with his partner. It's a group choreography anyway. But I want my Finn in my room now, instead of having a rehearsal with his gorgeous, sexy dancer friends."

"So you're jealous."

"Okay! A little bit." She plopped down Quinn's desk with a huff. "You look terrible by the way."

"And you're still waking me up." Quinn shoved her blanket away from her face just so she could look at Rachel properly. "Did you say all this to Finn?"

"Yes. And he said that he couldn't do anything about it. And I couldn't help but think that he didn't want to be with me. So I pouted and told him to just go."

"Then?"

"Then he left. And sent me a text saying that he's sorry and will come to my room tomorrow night."

"So what the hell is the problem!?" Now Quinn was really starting to get pissed off. She didn't need Rachel to disturb her sleep for nothing. In times like this, she couldn't help but wish that Santana was around to take care of her cousin so Quinn didn't need to deal with a sulking Rachel.

"The problem is, Q, I want my Finn, right now."

"Rachel, you were with him the whole day. You had lunch and dinner with him. You watched his practice earlier. You sent him thousands of messages and pictures a day. And he replied to each one of it—."

"Not each one of it, just most of it," Rachel mumbled, still pouting.

"Point is, don't you think that you're too much? Because if I were Finn, I would've told you to leave me alone."

"But you're different, you don't like attention."

"Does he like it?"

Rachel huffed and started to poke her shoe against the floor. "Not so much." She looked away when she asked, "So you think that I disturb him?"

Quinn sighed, "I didn't say that. And he probably doesn't feel like you're disturbing him. But I do think you're being too much."

"It's just that…" Quinn noticed that Rachel's eyes started to water again. "I feel left out whenever he's with his friends."

"Then why don't you try to get to know them too?"

"I've tried. But they're like… awesome."

"Awesome?" Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, you know, awesome," Rachel answered vaguely with a shrug. And no, Quinn still didn't know what she meant.

"Listen. Even though you think they're 'awesome', I think Finn still likes you more than anyone else. I mean, he never asked you to stop flooding his inbox or demanded this and that from him, right?"

"Well, no."

"Just because he has new friends and activities that differ from yours, doesn't mean that he forgets about you."

"I know."

"Maybe you can make yourself busy too. I mean, don't you have any test or report to write? You're a composing student, I thought your life's supposed to be all about writing and composing, way busier than me."

"Everything I have to do isn't due until next week."

Quinn sighed again. "Well just try to find something to do."

"Okay."

The younger girl then covered her face with her blanket once again, expecting Rachel to leave her room. And she was just starting to fall asleep when she realized that she didn't hear her door being opened and closed. Instead, she heard the beeping sounds of keypads.

"Why are you still here?" she groaned.

"I'm typing a supportive message to Finn."

"Do it in your own room!"

"Can't. I'd forget what I have to write then." Quinn groaned once again and rolled her body so her back was facing Rachel. "…Q?"

"What now!"

"Thanks for listening to me."

"I'm still having a hard time to believe that I just gave you a relationship advice."

Rachel chuckled. "And sorry for being ungrateful. I know that you miss Sam too."

"Oh, shut up!"

But Quinn's annoyed answer only served to make Rachel laugh hard and jump onto her bed to give her a crushing hug. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed something. "Uh, Q, you're kinda warm. Are you really okay? You need me to get you some medicine?"

"No! I need to sleep. And you!" Quinn pushed Rachel off her bed. "You need to go!"

* * *

"Finn," Rachel rolled on her bed, staring at his lover who was taking a seat on her desk.

She had forced Finn to come to her room the next night—because Finn had promised he would—despite the fact that Finn just remembered about a mini-test tomorrow and had to concentrate on his study (to this, Rachel frowned and asked, "What? I thought you only need to dance in the dance major. Why do you need to study?" Finn rolled his eyes in response).

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Quinn had told Sam by now?"

"About what?" Finn asked halfheartedly, still submerged in his text book.

"About her new job, of course," Rachel pouted. She never took it well whenever Finn talked to her without looking at her. "Quinn said she'd tell Sam today, right?"

"Why does that matter to you?"

"If she had told him already, I can send the photo I took yesterday. I'm afraid that I'd forget about it."

Finn chuckled, "So that's why you've been staring at your phone all day. Sam should buy you a present for being so loyal to him. Why do you do that so willingly anyway?"

"Because if you ever ask Sam or Quinn to give you updates about me, which I know you would never do, I know that they would do that for you. Although… Quinn would definitely make you her slave in return. And! You're not answering my question!"

"Just send the photo. It's already late in the evening, I'm sure that Q had told him. Anyway, I wouldn't need them to do that for me, since you've sent me dozens of texts and pictures of you everyday anyway, even though we're in the same university. "

"I just don't want you to miss me."

Finn didn't give her any response in return. The brunette boy was only reading his book quietly, making Rachel anxious. She remembered what Quinn said yesterday and she was worried that it was indeed too much and bothered Finn. So Rachel lay perfectly still on her bed, waiting for her lover to reply.

"Well, thanks for making sure it won't ever happen," Finn said sincerely after a minute or two.

Rachel grinned at the reassurance, instantly forgetting all about her little sulking moment. She browsed through her pictures folder and sent the photo of the beaming Quinn to Sam. It only took a minute for the older blonde's name to appear on Rachel's incoming call screen.

"RACHEL!" Sam's elated voice beamed through his receiver. "My dearest friend! Thank you for the lovely photo. By the way, the photo was dated yesterday. I understand if you're busy and stuff, but I need my Quinn dose here."

"I had to wait because Q threatened me not to send it until she told you about it."

"Eh? About what? Wait, I thought the photo was just a lucky snap?"

"...erm, Quinn had told you, no?"

At this Finn's ears perked up and he slowly turned around to look at his horror-struck girlfriend.

"Told me what?"

Rachel paled and mouthed to the curious Finn, _'Quinn's gonna kill me.'_

"Erm, erm. Sorry, Sam! She said she would tell you today, so I thought… Argh, please don't tell her that you heard it from me!"

"Tell me first!"

"Promise first!"

Sam sighed, and he had to convince Rachel for five minutes before the younger girl felt reassured enough to tell him.

* * *

"Quinn! My baby! I'm so proud of you!" Sam blurted excitedly the moment Quinn answered the call. The other blonde didn't answer for a few seconds, and Sam could imagine her sighing without a sound and rolling her eyes.

"Rachel told you, didn't she." It was a statement, not a question.

"It doesn't matter. Why didn't you tell me earlier? You don't have to worry about my papers, ok? For me, nothing can be as important as hearing good news from you. Anyway, I'm calling to tell you that I had planned a celebration for you with Rachel and Finn. We're going to gather at your place this evening—."

"NO! Don't come here!"

Sam blinked, surprised by the strong rejection. "No? Why?"

"No," Quinn repeated firmly. "I don't want any celebration tonight."

"But—."

"I said no! It's just a job. A small job. Whatever Rachel told you, she was just exaggerating. I don't need any stupid celebration and you—you guys don't need to come here. In fact, if you show up, I will kick your ass one by one. Now if you'll excuse me, I have important papers to do."

"…Q—."

"Sam," Quinn said, her voice stern with a don't-argue-with-me undertone, "I mean what I said."

The line went dead.

* * *

When Sam told Rachel just that through the phone, the younger girl frowned in disbelief. "But Sam, I'm not lying! She was truly excited yesterday!"

"I know. There's something wrong, and I'm pretty sure that it doesn't involve papers."

"Could it be… what if the job was canceled?"

"No, she would say so if it is. Rach, please try to remember, was there something off with Quinn yesterday and today?"

"I don't know about today, I haven't seen her and neither have Finn. Yesterday…" Rachel trailed off as she tried to recall yesterday's events. They met, Quinn informed her and Finn about the good news, then—. _"Before you can overreact, it's only a minor flu, ok."_ Then Quinn looked awful and told her that she needed to sleep when Rachel came to whine at her the night before.

"Sam! I think—I mean, I'm not sure, but yesterday she said she caught flu. It didn't look _that_ bad yesterday, but maybe today…"

"Oh Q," Sam sighed exasperatedly. "If it's true, it explains everything."

"Should I check on her?" Rachel asked hurriedly, now filled with worry towards his friend.

"Call Finn and wait for me. I'll be there in one hour."

"One? But you couldn't possibly get here that fast from New York—Sam, where are you?"

"In my car, on my way to Boston. I took off as soon as Quinn disconnected my call."

"Oh," Rachel said, inwardly admiring Sam's single-mindedness regarding Quinn, "okay."

* * *

"Q!" Sam called out as he pounded the girl's dorm room door. "Q, are you inside?"

"Try calling her again," Finn told Rachel, who responded by pressing the redial button on her cell phone. Quinn's ringtone drifted from behind the door.

"She's inside," Sam turned more worried. "We have no choice." He sighed heavily… before he pulled out a key from his pocket.

"Please tell me Quinn gave you that willingly," Finn half-pleaded.

Rachel, on the other hand, looked amazed, "Is that the key to this room?"

"It's a copy. I made this some time ago and kind of saving it for a different kind of emergency," Sam sighed again (Finn rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what kind of 'emergency' Sam had in mind—possibly not much on the innocent side) and reached for the door handle… it turned without resistance, telling them it was unlocked.

"Well, well, we're lucky," he grinned and turned the handle further and slowly opened the door. Then he remembered something and whispered to the other two. "Now, I trust you guys to keep this key a secret from Quinn."

"You didn't even get that legally," Finn said flatly.

"Legal… is relative," Sam winked and opened the door slowly. "Q? Honey? Baby?"

Finn made a face, muttering about how Quinn would kill the boy if she ever heard about the pet names, but Sam didn't seem to be fazed by it. Rachel couldn't help but giggle despite the dire situation.

Their little commotion died down when the door opened all the way and their eyes finally caught the sight Quinn splayed down on the floor, face down.

"QUINN!?" Sam paled visibly and rushed towards the girl, Rachel and Finn following closely behind him. The first thing that Sam noticed when he touched Quinn's body was the high temperature. Rachel asked if Quinn was alright, but he didn't reply and instead wrapped his arms around the girl's body before slowly turning her around. Quinn's face was flushed red and her breath was uneven.

"Q…" Sam called her and gently tapped her cheeks, "Q, can you hear me?"

The girl's eyes fluttered open. It took a few moments for her to recognize everyone hovering above her. "What…" she breathed out with difficulty, "what are you guys doing here?"

"Listen, we're gonna take you to the bed, ok?"

Quinn looked confused, as if she could barely process the words. "But… I told you not to come…"

"Shh…" Sam stroked her cheek. "You're burning, Q. Let us take care of you. Just close your eyes."

Despite the small voice inside her that hated being told what to do, she closed her eyes anyway. In the haze of the fever, she faintly registered Sam asking Rachel to prepare an ice pack and Finn to buy some medicine. Then she felt her body being lifted up.

* * *

Quinn woke up to a blurred image which she recognized as her ceiling and a feeling that someone was holding her hand. She groaned reflexively, causing said someone to realize that she had woken up.

"Q? You awake?" It was Sam's voice. She felt the ice pack on her forehead slid down as she shifted, and Sam took it away.

"What time is it now?" Quinn asked, voice hoarse.

Sam hurriedly fetched her a glass of water before he answered, "It's midnight."

"Finn and Rachel…?"

"I told them to go back. They have a class tomorrow—I mean today."

"What about you?"

"You think I can leave you like this?" Sam checked her temperature by pressing back of his hand against Quinn's temple. A frown appeared on her face.

Quinn grunted and tried to sit up, but the room spun right away. Sam hurriedly forced her to lie back down. "What are you doing!?"

"Sorry," Quinn suddenly apologized, causing Sam to blink in surprise. The younger blonde was apologizing instead of scowling? "I really didn't want to bother you… I know you have a class in the morning."

"Your temperature is over 102 degrees and you're worried about my class?" Sam chuckled. "What good thing have I done in my previous life to deserve such a wonderful girl like you?"

"Sam," Quinn insisted, "your class…"

"Skipping one class won't kill me, Q. Allowing myself to leave you here, will." Sam half-expected the girl to roll her eyes and grunted something along the line of 'geez, you sound like a cheap soap opera'. But the girl merely stared at him through dazed eyes. The stare was so unguarded, speaking of so many feelings usually hid by the socially-awkward girl, that Sam couldn't help but feel a tug in his heart. He leaned closer and placed a peck on the side of Quinn's lips. "I made some warm soup for you. Wait here, ok?"

Quinn shook her head weakly, "No."

"Q, you can't take your medicine unless you eat something, and I don't care that you hate medicines—."

"No…" the younger blonde reached out to him and tugged the sleeve of his shirt. "Don't… don't go."

"What?" Sam smiled jokingly, "You want me to sleep beside you?"

Much to his surprise, Quinn nodded.

There was another tug in Sam's heart. He knew he shouldn't felt like this, but... Quinn was apparently not afraid of being clingy when she was sick. The girl was already adorable enough with her scowls and held back smiles, but this...

"Don't do this to me," Sam muttered, but mostly to himself. He climbed to the bed, gently shifting Quinn to make space for himself. He wrapped an arm around the lithe figure before gently stroking Quinn's side. "At least promise me that you'll let me take you to the doctor if your fever hasn't gone down by morning."

Quinn made a sound akin to a whine, and Sam had to bite his lip to distract himself.

"Q…" he started after they were both settled in their position, "it's okay to rely on me, you know."

The younger girl just looked up at him, so he continued. "You told me off his afternoon because you didn't want me to come here and found you like this, right? You didn't want to cause a hassle."

A long silence followed before Quinn finally responded, "…Sorry. I didn't mean what I say." Apparently, the fever also melted away the girl's frigid demeanor. "I'm really happy that you're here now…" Her face was flushed already, so Sam couldn't tell if she was blushing. But in her dazed state, Quinn was probably unaware of her own words and behavior.

Sam pulled Quinn closer until the girl was tucked securely inside his arms.

"Hey, Q?"

The young girl hummed in response against his chest. Sam thought that he could get used to the pleasant vibration. "Congratulations on getting the job. I'm so proud of you."

Quinn snuggled further and sighed in content. Sam let sleep fell upon them.

* * *

Just like he predicted, Quinn exploded with embarrassment from her own clingy behavior last night. The moment she woke up, she yelped and shoved Sam away until he nearly fell off the bed. The rest of the morning was filled with scowls and grunts, but Sam was just relieved that the fever had gone down.

"Why are you still here, really?"

"I have to make sure that you're all right."

"I'm perfectly fine now. Go back to New York."

"I'm not leaving until you're fully recovered. What if you faint again?"

Quinn glared, "I won't. Now get your ass out of my room."

Sam pouted, "Not even a morning kiss? And you were so cute last night too… Saying adorable things like 'don't go' and 'I'm really glad that you're here now' with a blush on your face. You even said 'I miss you'."

He earned an angry pinch right below his ribs, and his mouth opened wide in agony. "Ow, ow! Q!"

"I most definitely didn't say that I miss—," she paused with a blush, realizing that she had just acknowledged the rest of Sam's statement. "Those were the fever talking! Last night never happened, you hear me!?"

"…Should've taken advantage of you when you were like that—OWW! No more pinching—OW, OW!"

* * *

**Hey everyone! I just realize that I haven't update this since forever so I decide to be generous and give you a new chapter today :D Thank you for reading the previous chapter. Here, we can see that they're starting a new chapter in their lives: college. You can see how Sam and Quinn deal with the long distance relationship and also Finn and Rachel dealing with their own relationship. You've got to see more about how being in the same college affects Finn and Rachel in the next chapter, tho. So please anticipate it :)**

**noro**: Hello there! Thank you for the review. Hope you'll enjoy this one :)

**RJRRAA**: Hey there! Thank you for reviewing. You know, Quinn is not really big on letting people know how she really feels, even to Sam. You've got to see more of that since it was just her being her. But in some point in this story, we've got to see how Quinn finally open up about her own feelings. You just have to wait and see ;) I'm glad you like the previous chapter and I hope you'll enjoy this one :)

**Overgron**: Hello there! Thank you for reviewing. I'm glad you like the previous chapter and I really hope you'll enjoy this one :)

**I would like to thank everyone who read this story, also for the review, follow, and favorites. It means a lot to me. As usual, leave me some reviews. Tell me what do you think of this story and whether you like it or hate it. Any questions and critics are welcome too. I'll see you soon with another chapter. See ya! :)**


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